PM Modi Lauds Supreme Court for Delivering Judgments in Regional Languages
In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his gratitude to the Supreme Court for its initiative to provide the operative parts of their judgments in regional languages. This move underscores the increasing significance of regional languages in India’s judicial landscape.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Speaking from the Red Fort in Delhi, PM Modi highlighted
“We have emphasized in the direction that the students can study in their mother languages,”
emphasizing the importance of regional languages. He further stated,
“I even want to thank the Supreme Court for deciding that now the operative part of its judgments will be available in one’s mother tongue. The significance of regional languages is increasing.”
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, who was among the dignitaries present at the Independence Day celebrations, acknowledged the Prime Minister’s remarks with a gesture of folded hands. Under CJI Chandrachud’s leadership, the Supreme Court has already translated over 1,200 judgments into 13 Indian languages, including Assamese, Garo, Hindi, Kannada, Khasi, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. These translations are available on the e-SCR portal, the official electronic repository of the Supreme Court Reports (SCR).
The Supreme Court had previously launched a neural translation tool named SUVAS (Supreme Court Vidhik Anuvaad Software) in 2019. This machine learning-based software, trained by Artificial Intelligence, is capable of translating English judicial documents, orders, or judgments into vernacular languages and vice versa. The continuous translation of Supreme Court judgments into Indian languages ensures that the translated versions are regularly uploaded, benefiting litigants and other stakeholders.
CJI Chandrachud had previously elaborated on the importance of this initiative, stating
“A very important initiative which we have adopted recently, is our initiative for translation of the 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, in which case really access to justice cannot be meaningful, unless citizens are able to access and understand in a language which they speak and comprehend, the judgments which we deliver whether in the high courts or in the Supreme Court.”
This move by the Supreme Court, endorsed by the Prime Minister, aims to make the judicial system more accessible and comprehensible to the vast majority of India’s populace.
