Mr. Vice-President, Sir, the Supreme Court according to me is the Supreme guardian of the citizen’s rights in any democracy. I would even go further and say that it is the soul of democracy. The executive which comes into being for the time being is apt to abuse its powers, and therefore the Supreme Court must be there, strong and un-trammelled by the day to day passions which may bring a set of people into power and throw them out also in a very short time. In less than three or four years during which a parliament is in being, many governments may come and go, and if the fundamental rights of the individual are left to the tender mercies of the Government of the day, they cannot be called fundamental rights at all. On the other hand, the judges appointed to the Supreme Court can be depended upon to be the guardians of the rights and privileges of the citizens, the majority and the minority alike. So far as the fundamental rights are concerned, my humble view is that there is no difference between the rights and privileges of individual citizens, whether they belong to the majority community or to the minority community. Both must be allowed to exercise freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, must be allowed to exercise their language and use the script which naturally belongs to them. These and other rights must be carefully watched and for this purpose the Supreme Court has been vested with the supreme ultimate jurisdiction. So far as the rights of the minorities are concerned, some other provision has also been made in this Constitution in article 299, under which a special officer or officers are to be appointed to watch their interests and to report to the President of the Union, as also to the Governor, on how far the minority rights that have been enumerated in this and the other parts of the Constitution are being observed, and it is the duty of the President or the Governor to lay this report before the legislature. But this in itself will not do unless the Supreme Court is watchful and is allowed to pull up any executive government if it goes astray.
