In Unshackling the Elephant, Anand Prasad offers a searching, deeply considered reflection on the Indian legal system—its burdens, its blind spots, and its immense but unrealised potential. Drawing on more than three decades of experience at the Bar, Anand writes not as a distant academic observer but as someone who has lived within the machinery of the courts and felt its strengths and strains firsthand. The result is a book that is both diagnostic and visionary: a candid appraisal of where we stand, and a bold invitation to imagine what justice in India could yet become.
The metaphor of the elephant is central to the book’s force. India’s legal system, like the elephant, is majestic and powerful, rooted in history and capable of extraordinary endurance. Yet it is also shackled—by inherited colonial frameworks, procedural excess, delay, and habits of thought that no longer serve a modern, dynamic society. Anand argues that over time these shackles have weakened public trust. When cases linger for years, when access to justice feels expensive or uncertain, and when outcomes appear unpredictable, the moral authority of the law itself begins to erode.
What distinguishes this work is its refusal to settle for incremental reform. Anand does not merely catalogue problems; he ventures solutions that are structural and, at times, daring. He calls for a transformation in how courts function—embracing technology, improving knowledge systems, standardising processes, and exploring AI-assisted tools to reduce delays and enhance consistency. For him, efficiency is not a managerial concern alone; it is integral to fairness. Justice delayed, he reminds us, is not simply justice deferred—it is often justice denied.
The book also engages with questions of accountability and incentives within the legal ecosystem. Anand examines how litigation costs, interest awards, fee structures, and funding models shape behaviour. If delays carry no real consequence and inefficiency bears no cost, he suggests, reform will remain rhetorical. By introducing economic rationality into legal processes, he argues, the system can better align professional incentives with public interest.
Perhaps most striking is the author’s effort to situate legal reform within India’s own philosophical traditions. He reflects on ideas such as dharma and Ram Rajya—not as nostalgic invocations, but as possible ethical anchors that could complement the inherited common law framework. His contention is that a justice system must resonate culturally as well as procedurally; it must speak to the moral imagination of the society it governs. This cultural turn is likely to provoke debate, and rightly so. Yet even those who disagree with aspects of his argument will find it difficult to ignore the seriousness with which it is advanced.
Unshackling the Elephant is a work of conviction, written with clarity and intellectual courage. At moments it challenges comfortable assumptions; at others it inspires hope that reform, though daunting, is within reach. Lawyers, judges, policymakers, scholars, and engaged citizens will find in its pages both a rigorous critique and a call to action.
In the end, Anand’s message is simple but urgent: India’s legal system need not remain burdened by inertia. With imagination, integrity, and resolve, it can be unshackled—restored to a position where justice is not only proclaimed but consistently delivered.
Unshackling the Elephant: Transforming Indian Law, Culture and Economy
By Anand Prasad
Published by Bloomsbury
Price Rs 699; pages 301
Sitesh Mukherjee is senior advocate, Supreme Court of India.