CJI Gavai breaks down while talking about parents’ struggle

“I wanted to be an architect,” he said, “but my father had different dreams for me. He always wanted me to become a lawyer, a dream he could not fulfil himself,” the CJI said.

Gavai, who was sworn in as 52nd Chief Justice of India last month, was speaking at an event organised by the Nagpur district court bar association to honour his ascent to the highest judicial position in the country. However, it was his personal reflections that resonated most with the audience.

Gavai got emotional briefly while speaking about his parents and the influence they had on his life. “My father gave himself to the service of Ambedkar. He wanted to be an advocate himself, but couldn’t fulfil that wish as he was arrested for being part of the freedom movement,” Gavai said.

“We were a joint family with many kids, and all the responsibility came on my mother and aunt,” the CJI said.

To fulfil his father’s wish, he let go of his dream to be an architect, he said. “Later, when my name was recommended for the post of a judge in the high court, my father said if you remain a lawyer, you will only go after money, but if you become a judge then you will walk on the path laid down by Ambedkar and do good for society,” Gavai said.

His father also thought that his son would one day become the Chief Justice of India, but he did not live to see that happen, the CJI said. “We lost him on 2015, but I am glad my mother is there,” Gavai added. The chief justice was quick to sense that the audience had turned emotional and perhaps to lighten the mood, he shared the memory of another day when a cheque bounce case was lodged against actor Hema Malini in the Nagpur district court.