There but for grace of God, go I
THE Bombay High Court while dealing with a Petition filed by the wife of the detenu remarked - Those immortal words should never be forgotten when dealing with any detenu: "there, but for the grace of God, go I."
More about this phrase -Meaning
- I too, like someone seen to have suffered misfortune, might have suffered a similar fate, but for God's mercy. The story that is widely circulated is that the phrase was first spoken by the English evangelical preacher and martyr, John Bradford (circa 1510-1555). He is said to have uttered the variant of the expression - "There but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford", when seeing criminals being led to the scaffold.
The High Court while quashing the order of detention on the ground of delay and reminding the Detaining Authority as also the Sponsoring Authority of their duties and responsibilities cited the Supreme Court decisions in Dropti Devi & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Ors. = & Sunil Fulchand Shah v Union of India and Ors. (2000) 3 SCC 409 and observed - Although the …decisions of the Supreme Court have been cited innumerable times in our orders, and although each is today a locus classicus, we find they bear reiteration and repetition if only because our State-level functionaries appear to have entirely lost sight of them.
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