CJI shifts to Telugu to ensure peace between couple

Bench noticed that woman litigant from A.P. was finding it difficult to express herself freely in English.

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana on Wednesday switched to his mother tongue Telugu to pave the way for peace between a couple locked in a 20-year-old case. Supreme Court judges usually resort to Hindi when they learn that litigants, mostly petitioners-in-person, are unable to speak or understand English. An interaction in a regional language between the Bench and a litigant has rarely been witnessed in the apex court. Wednesday saw the Bench of Chief Justice Ramana and Justice Surya Kant make an effort to ensure that language barriers do not come in the way of access to justice in a country known for its linguistic diversity. Recent times have seen the Supreme Court translate its judgments from English to various regional languages. The objective is to help litigants and the public read the verdicts themselves and fully understand the law.