NHRC Chief Says Office of CJI Faces ‘Agni Pariksha’ Every Minute

PTI, Oct 12, 2026, New Delhi : The office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is put to "Agni Pariksha" (test of fire) every minute, "not necessarily by sacred souls" at all times, NHRC chairperson Justice V Ramasubramanian (retd) said on Monday.

Addressing a gathering at an event hosted on the 33rd anniversary of the National Human Rights Commission at Vigyan Bhawan here, he also said the office of the CJI has become the "single most important, the most powerful, the most vibrant, and at the same time, the most vulnerable office in the country".

His remarks, made in the presence of CJI Surya Kant, who was the chief guest on the occasion, come in the backdrop of multiple petitions filed in the Supreme Court amid the ongoing protests in Delhi.

Later, the NHRC shared the text of the speech of the chairperson, in which he was quoted as saying, "The distinguished invitees who have assembled here may agree with me that today all societies are going through testing times, either due to nature's fury or due to people's fury."

The NHRC chief also thanked the CJI for accepting the invitation to be the chief guest at the event.

The chairperson, in his address, said, "The office of the Chief Justice of India is an office which is put to the test of fire, 'Agni Pariksha', every day, nay, every minute, not necessarily by sacred souls at all times."

"Therefore, the CJI's acceptance of our invitation to be the chief guest, especially at a time when he is in great demand, is something remarkable. I owe a great deal of gratitude to him. Thank you, Chief. Given a chance, he may like to stay back," he said, without elaborating.

The NHRC chief said that until a few decades ago, the approach to human rights issues was normally "two-dimensional".

He highlighted that in the digital world, our opinions can be manipulated, our thought processes can be influenced and our activities, both physical and mental, can be monitored.

He warned that, given this dangerous trend, the day is not far off when "man will become a machine which may be more mechanical than the machine, and machine may become a human without being humanistic".

Therefore, it is time, especially when the NHRC celebrates its foundation day, to pledge to "reinvent ourselves to face new challenges, reaffirm our commitment to the cause of promotion and protection of human rights and re-engineer our personalities to improve our delivery system", he said.

The NHRC chief flagged that humankind is facing problems on a scale unlike anything ever seen before. He added, "Climate migration will increase. Food and water shortages will become more frequent. Hurricanes and floods will claim more and more victims."

The climate crisis goes hand in hand with another global problem — socioeconomic inequality on an unprecedented scale, he said.

The devastating consequences of global warming will be felt more by the world's most socially and economically vulnerable, who will be most severely affected by drought, shortage, heatwaves, rising sea levels and forced migration, the NHRC chief said.

"The world's 26 richest people own as much capital as the poorest 3.8 billion humans combined. The owners of half the world's assets would fit into a single classroom. It's no coincidence that climate and wealth are so closely linked, as they essentially share a common origin: fossil capitalism," he said.