Raju Ramachandran’s 14 lawyers: The Bar we had, the Bench we need

5 min readJul 25, 2026 08:00 AM IST Raju Ramachandran’s 14 Lawyers: Portraits from the Bar. (Generated with AI) There is a particular kind of disillusionment that comes from watching a trusted institution slowly turn away from the people it exists to protect. As thousands of students stand in Jantar Mantar demanding accountability for a broken examination system, they are met with tear gas and batons. When a plea about police excesses reached the Delhi High Court, the police were given a comfortable four weeks to ponder and respond while the Supreme Court, famously, had no time to waste on it. A month ago, it was the Chief Justice of India who inadvertently likened the country’s frustrated, unemployed young to cockroaches and parasites — a phrase the protesters are wearing, almost gleefull