In another significant step ahead, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud announced the appointment of a sign-language interpreter by the Supreme Court. This move is an effort to help hearing impaired lawyers and litigants to comprehend judicial proceedings. 

At the outset of the proceedings on Friday, the Chief Justice of India affirmed that today they have an interpreter whom the Supreme Court has appointed. DY Chandrachud hailed the decision as a historic moment. The CJI earlier stated that he wanted to have a sign-language interpreter for the Constitution bench hearings. 

On September 22, a bench led by the CJI heard hearing-impaired lawyer Sarah Sunny through sign-language interpreter Saurav Roy Chowdhury in a case related to the rights of persons related with disability. Lawyers and bar bodies had appreciated the fact that the apex court allowed a hearing impaired lawyer to argue a case through sign-language. 

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who is sensitive towards providing accessibility to justice delivery systems to the differently-abled people, also constituted a Supreme Court committee on accessibility last year with the motive of ensuring accessibility and understanding the hardships faced by specially-abled persons. Various infrastructural changes have been carried out on the top court premises to enhance accessibility for the specially-abled persons. 

Earlier in August, in a major initiative to fight against gender stereotypes in legal proceedings, the Supreme Court introduced a handbook that lists words and phrases associated with gender stereotypes. The handbook cautions judges against using them in court orders. 

During the launch of the Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud mentioned multiple offensive words that have been used for women in the past judgements. He noted that those words are improper and have been used for women in court judgements. He further clarified that this handbook’s objective is not to criticise those judgements or doubt them but it is just to emphasize how gender stereotypes are perpetuated inadvertently. 

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