Impact of public opinion on Judicial Process

1. Introduction.

2. To discuss the Public Opinion and Law in Democracy.

3. To analyse the effect of Public Opinion on Law.

4. To review the effect of Public Opinion on Judgments of Court.

5. Conclusion.

1. Introduction.
What is public opinion? Is it the opinion of something we call the public, the opinion of the “majority,”
the opinion that becomes public by being published, the sum of opinions held by individuals on
matters of public interest, or is it what everybody thinks “the others” are thinking? [1]

Public opinion refers to the beliefs and points of view of the public on any particular topic. All the
citizens have the right of expressing their views with regards to any issue that concerns them.It is not
necessary that the public opinion should be restricted only to political issues but it may also include
within its ambit all issues which are social in nature. In absence of the the views of the public, there
cannot be a frequent social decision. It comprises of the desires, needs and thinking of the majority.It
is the collective opinion which is possessed by the people in any society or state on any particular
problem or issue.[2]

2. To discuss the Public Opinion and Law in Democracy.

Law and public opinion are closely knit together. In a democratic setup laws are deeply rooted in
public opinion. In a democracy, legislature is the most important source of law. Legislature is a body
of the representatives of the people. The will of the public is represented by the public.[3]

There is no doubt that laws are not framed directly by the people but one must not forget that the
people elect their representatives to the Legislature. It should not be the tendency of the these
representatives to not go against the will of the people.[4]

If the people or electors feel the need of replacing or modifying certain laws then their
representatives do the needful. From this it is evident that close proximity is present between public
opinion and law due to the reason that the will of the people is represented by the laws.

3. To analyse the effect of Public Opinion on Law

Page 1 of 3
Social change can be effected by legislation only when legal sanction is given to the prevalent social
norm. A legislation cannot, by itself, replace one norm with another. Social change cannot be brought
about by unaided social legislation. However, once it gets the backing of public opinion it can aid in
initiating changes in social norm and subsequently a change in the social behavior. This can be better
understood with the help of certain examples of social legislations formulated in India.[5]

Various social legislations came up in India, before as well as after gaining independence, in order to
bring about social change. A number of these became successful while there a few others which still
remain as dead letters. Legislations securing the support of the public as well as of the social norms
went on to become a great success.

4. To review the effect of Public Opinion on Judgments of Court

a. It is not possible to have a judiciary that is independent of the society and, therefore,
their interaction is unescapable. However,one cannot surmount the rule of law. Certain
things are there which cannot be changed by judiciary and there are certain things
which need it to show courage for any change. In order to understand the difference
which is there between these two, wisdom is required.

b. Rule of law is dominated by the public opinion. What is surprising to note is that the
Court is also getting influenced and impacted by the opinion of the public. It has been
opined by Justice Dipak Misra, in his Nirbhaya case [10] judgment: “It is manifest that
the wanton lust, the servility to absolutely unchained carnal desire and slavery to the
loathsome bestiality of passion ruled the mindset of the appellants to commit a crime
which can summon with immediacy ‘tsunami’ of shock in the mind of the collective and
destroy the civilised marrows of the milieu in entirety.”

c. Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration[7], M.H. Hoskot v. State of Maharashtra[8]

Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar[9],The public sentiments creeped into the judicial
proceedings and the courtmade its interpretation of the legislations in such a manner
that led to evolution of law into giving more rights to the citizens. In the infamous Delhi
Gang Rape Case[10]. It was the result of the public furore after the incident which made
sure that the accused were granted death sentence by the court. In the Navtej
Sandhu[11] case, it was specifically stressed by the Supreme Court that only the
conviction of the convict will satisfy the “conscience of the society”.

d. Various positive instances are there in which media activism and pressure of public
opinion has resulted in the delivery of justice. However, evidence should and must be
the sole basis of judgments and sentencing, else there is very high likelihood that
innocents may be arrested for the purpose of calming down unraveled public temper
and be made a scapegoat.

Page 2 of 3
 5. Conclusion
There is an important place for public opinion in each and every nation due to the reason that in the
absence of obtaining opinion of the public,a government cannot become successful. A democratic
government works for the welfare of the people and while talking about public opinion the first word
which comes to our mind is public or people our country can be called a country only by the people.
Public opinion comes under the scope and ambit of Article 19 of the Constitution of India as it relates
to the freedom of speech and expression.

Therefore, it is evident that law and public opinion have a very close and proximate relationship. Both
public opinion as well as law are primarily concerned with social good and the common welfare of the
people. According to P S. Mathur, “Law should be not firmly rooted in public opinion but should be a
little ahead of it”.

Page 3 of 3