Harish Salve Calls for a Civil Rights Act to Protect Citizens from Malicious Prosecution

Padma Bhushan awardee and senior advocate Harish Salve has called for the enactment of a Civil Rights Act in India to ensure citizens have direct legal recourse against wrongful arrests, discrimination, and malicious prosecution.

Speaking at Republic Media Network’s ‘Legends’ series in conversation with Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Salve reflected on the absence of a strong statutory mechanism to protect individual rights in India. “We are all victims of malicious prosecution,” he said, adding that such cases often shake the very foundations of justice.

Recalling a moment from his early years in law, Salve referred to a visit by US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black to India in the late 1980s. “Justice Black said, ‘Don’t give me all this high-flying jurisprudence. Do you have a Civil Rights Act?’” Salve recounted. “If a citizen is wrongly arrested, there must be a statute under which he gets compensation and the person responsible is punished. If someone is discriminated against, there must be a simple law allowing him to seek relief in a magistrate’s court.”

It is to be mentioned that Hugo Black was an influential American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. Known for his strong advocacy of civil liberties, he was a steadfast proponent of the First Amendment and the principle of judicial restraint.

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Salve emphasized that while India’s Constitution enshrines fundamental rights, the absence of a clear, actionable law leaves citizens dependent on complex and prolonged constitutional remedies. “All these lofty ideas of right to life are good in theory,” he remarked, “but where is the law that protects you on the ground?”

The veteran lawyer, known for representing India in landmark cases domestically and internationally, also shared a lighthearted note about why he could never be a minister — underscoring his preference for legal advocacy over political office.

Salve’s remarks reignite the debate on whether India needs a dedicated Civil Rights or Malicious Prosecution Act, a legal framework many jurists have long advocated to strengthen accountability within the justice system.