The Supreme Court on Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the Kesavananda Bharti judgement by releasing a video dedicated to the historic 1973 Fundamental Rights case in 10 languages.
Making the announcement, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said that the video of the landmark verdict was now available in 10 Indian languages on the Supreme Court’s website.
Stressing on the importance of breaking down language barriers to make the work of the court accessible to a wider section of society, the CJI said that the video was available in English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Odia, Malayalam, Gujarati, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese and Marathi.
He said the initiative was part of the Apex Court’s ongoing efforts to translate judgements into various Indian languages, with 20,000 verdicts already uploaded on the electronic version of the Supreme Court Reports (eSCR).
Talking about the video, the CJI said it provided the viewers with details of the case background, key legal issues involved, the judges who presided over the bench, the advocates who appeared in the case, arguments made and the conclusions reached.
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta expressed that this initiative brings awareness to people who were familiar with the Keshavananda Bharti judgement but unaware of the monumental importance behind it.
CJI Chandrachud also highlighted the impact on students, particularly those in less resourceful colleges. He said–
“Students for instance, who were not in highly resourced colleges- they can’t even access Judgements. 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,” to which 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.”
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