India, Feb. 22 -- Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Saturday said that "law cannot remain a fortress erected to protect society from arbitrariness", and called on the young lawyers to make it a "forum" where differences are debated, rights articulated and power is reasoned with. Kant, during his address - "From Fortress to Forum: Law in an Unfinished Republic" - at the 18th Convocation of National Law University here, urged the professionals to see law not as a closed citadel but as a living, evolving public space.

The CJI invoked the Mehrangarh Fort as a powerful metaphor for the historical journey of law.

"A fortress is built to defend, to guard against disorder and uncertainty. In its earliest conception, law resembled such a stru...