India, June 26 -- Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has said the first step to equality is providing equal access to the law and emphasised that it should not merely be a procedural nicety. Speaking at the XIV St Petersburg International Legal Forum in Russia on Wednesday, the CJI said equal access to law must fructify in the conferment of actual rights rather than hollow statutory declarations.

"We must ask ourselves what it actually takes for equality before the law to become real? My answer, which I draw from my experience presiding over the world's largest and most complex judicial systems, is that the first step to equality is providing equal access to the law.

"Such access cannot merely be a procedural nicety and must fructify in ...