India, Sept. 9 -- The Supreme Court's latest word on criticism of the judiciary deserves attention beyond the immediate controversy over an NCERT textbook. Its message is neither that the judiciary is above criticism nor that criticism must be muted. Quite the opposite, the court has acknowledged that a constitutional institution must remain open to informed scrutiny, while drawing a line against unverified assertions presented as fact, particularly before impressionable schoolchildren.

Closing its suo motu proceedings over the Class 8 textbook that carried a section titled "Corruption in the Judiciary", a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the distinction was not between "criticism and silence" but between "responsib...