LI Network
Published on: December 07, 2023 at 11:40 IST
In a significant move, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud announced that the video presentation of the Kesavananda Bharati judgment, commemorating its 50th anniversary, is now available in 10 Indian languages on the Supreme Court’s official website.
CJI Chandrachud emphasized the importance of transcending language barriers to enhance accessibility to the court’s work for a broader section of society. He stated that language barriers often hinder people from comprehending the court’s proceedings, underscoring the importance of translating legal content into regional languages.
On the 50th anniversary of the Kesavananda Bharati case, a landmark decision concerning Fundamental Rights in 1973, the Supreme Court had released a dedicated video providing a comprehensive overview of the case, including its background, key legal issues, the bench’s composition, the participating advocates, arguments presented, and the conclusions drawn.
“We had created a webpage for the judgment to mark the 50 years of Kesavananda Bharati. To reach out to a wider section of our society, I thought we could translate it into Indian languages,” explained CJI Chandrachud.
The video has been translated into ten Indian languages, namely English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Odia, Malayalam, Gujarati, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese, and Marathi.
This initiative aligns with the Supreme Court’s ongoing efforts to translate judgments into various Indian languages, with 20,000 judgments already available on the electronic version of the Supreme Court Reports (eSCR).
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta expressed that this initiative brings awareness to people who were familiar with the Kesavananda Bharati judgment but unaware of its monumental significance.
CJI Chandrachud also emphasized the impact on students, especially those in less resourceful colleges, stating, “Students, for instance, who were not in highly resourced colleges, can’t even access judgments. Now a student who wants to read a judgment in eSCR in Hindi can…now you have the same free text facility in Hindi as is in English.”
The Solicitor General added, “India must be the first country to start this,” and CJI Chandrachud confirmed, “No other country has. We were talking to the other Chief Justices who had come at the NALSA event. They were also saying they’ll do this in their jurisdictions.”
Access the video at: The Basic Structure Judgment – Kesavananda Bharati Judgment
