CJI Chandrachud Acknowledges PM Modi's Language Remark With Folded Hands

Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's praise for Supreme Court's initiative to provide judgments in regional languages, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who was among the guests at the Independence Day event, acknowledged the PM's remark with folded hands.

Addressing the Independence Day speech at the iconic Red Fort, PM Modi highlighted the importance of regional language and appreciated the recent move by the Supreme Court to provide judgments in regional languages.

"I also thank the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has said that the operative part of the judgments will be in one's mother tongue. The significance of the mother tongue is increasing," PM Modi said.

CJI Chandrachud has often stressed the need for courts to provide judgments in regional languages. In January, the CJI announced that the judgments delivered by the Supreme Court will be translated into four languages -Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, and Odia, saying translation of judgments in the regional languages will help in the access to justice for the citizens.

"A very important initiative which we have adopted recently is translation of judgments of the Supreme Court in regional languages. 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% of our citizens," said the CJI.

Later at an event in Mumbai, Chandrachud said the "next step... is to provide translated copies of the judgments of the Supreme Court in every Indian language" and stressed the use of technology to help the courts reach out to citizens across India.

"At a recent function, the honourable CJI Justice DY Chandrachud spoke of the need to work towards making Supreme Court judgments available in regional languages. He also suggested the use of technology for it. This is a laudatory thought, which will help many people, particularly youngsters," the Prime Minister tweeted with a video excerpt of the CJI's speech.