Judges Must Pay Attention To Avoid Using Gender Inappropriate Terms In Legal Proceedings: CJI DY Chandrachud

Chief Justice of India Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud on Saturday inaugurated the two-day National Conference on Digitization, Paperless Courts and e-Initiatives, organised by the Orissa High Court. The event was attended by Justice Rajesh Bindal, Judge, Supreme Court of India, Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, Judges and delegates from all the High Courts in India.

The CJI spoke about a number e-initiatives and visions of the e-committee of the Supreme Court. He also informed the audience about the LGBTQ Handbook, which was launched last year. It was a product of deliberations made by a committee headed by Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya, Judge, Calcutta High Court. Domain experts were thoroughly consulted to prepare the Handbook.

Above all, he underlined his decision to come up with a ‘Legal Glossary’ enlisting all the gender inappropriate terms, which are often used by Judges and legal professionals in the course of legal proceedings.

“Apart from the LGBTQ Handbook, we are in the process, now almost on the anvil of launching a ‘Legal Glossary’ of gender inappropriate terms. If you read judgments of conviction under Section 376 [Indian Penal Code], I am sure all of you have come across phrases that ‘the victim was ravished by the appellant’, ‘she was a concubine’. I came across a bail order in a NDPS case which said, ‘this Negro was arrested with 5 grams of cocaine’. Judges do that unwittingly,” he added.

He said that the purpose of the Legal Glossary is not to belittle the judiciary but just to make the Judges aware that the time to which we are moving towards, it is important to pay as much attention to language as is done for the substance.

“We have made an effort in the Legal Glossary to explain why is it that some words are inappropriate for use in Court proceedings,” he said.

Notably, the CJI had announced in March this year about the glossary which is being prepared by a committee chaired by Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya. Other people involved in the process include Delhi High Court Judge Justice Prathiba M. Singh, former Judges Prabha Sridevan and Gita Mittal, Jhuma Sen, Advocate, Calcutta High Court and also an adjunct faculty member of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata (WBNUJS).