CJI Chandrachud folds hands as PM Modi lauds Supreme Court

From the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, in his Independence Day 2023 speech, praised efforts of the Indian judiciary to translate key judgments in regional languages.PM Modi emphasised the importance of mother tongue as he praised the Supreme Court's move to provide judgments in regional languages."I want to thank the Supreme Court that now the operative part of its judgments will be available in one's mother tongue. The significance of regional languages is increasing," the Prime Minister said.Sitting among the guests, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud acknowledged the Prime Minister with folded hands, while others clapped.Later in an address, CJI Chandrachud said, "PM Modi today in his Independence Day speech at Red Fort mentioned the efforts of the Supreme Court to translate the judgements in regional languages. Up to now, 9,423 judgements have been translated in regional languages."In January this year, CJI Chandrachud announced that the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court will be translated into four languages —Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati and Odia. He said that translation of judgments in the regional languages will help in the access to justice for the citizens.While making the announcement, the CJI had said, "Because we must understand that the language which we use namely English, is a language which is not comprehensible, particularly in its legal avatar, to 99.9 per cent of our citizens,” said the CJI.The CJI had also said the “next step... is to provide translated copies of the judgments of the Supreme Court in every Indian language” and emphasised on the use of technology to help the courts reach out to citizens across India.Besides Hindi, Odia, Tamil, Gujarati, the verdicts by the Supreme Court are now available on the official website of the apex court in Assamese, Khasi, Garo, Punjabi, Nepali and Bengali. More languages will be added to this list soon.The Supreme Court uploaded about 1,000 of its verdicts in regional languages as part of Republic Day and its foundation day celebrations this year.Since then, 9,423 judgments have been translated into regional languages, with 8,977 of them in Hindi, the CJI said."Our target is to make a total of 35,000 key decisions since the Supreme Court came into existence, accessible to people in all languages," the CJI added.The aim of this initiative is to help take the judiciary directly to people's doorstep and help them understand the legal process by reading judgments in their mother tongue.