Supreme Court is working transcripts of proceedings available in all regional languages

Soon people of this country will be able to understand the proceedings happening in courts in their own language. Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said that the project regarding availability of transcripts in regional language is in the pipeline and the Apex Court is diligently working on it.

The issue came to court's cognisance during eighth day of hearing on same sex marriage. Due to live streaming of Apex Court's proceedings, members of common public having an internet connection have been actively contributing to this debate. Referring to this phenomenon, CJI Chandrachud remarked that live streaming of court's proceedings has taken it to the hearts and homes of the people.

However, language has come off as a big hurdle in accessibility of these proceedings. A large section of Indians are more in consonance with their vernacular language than English. Problem is that Court proceedings happen mainly in the English language. Responding to the CJI's remark on accessibility of Court proceedings, Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi raised the same concern in front of the Bench.

CJI responded that the court is aware of this concern. He further abridged that the Supreme Court is working on making transcripts available in regional languages. "Supreme court is not lost to it, and we are working on making the transcript available in regional languages immediately," said Justice D Y Chandrachud

The transcription facility is currently available in CJI's courtroom. There is a screen placed for the benefit of lawyers. It displays the live transcript of Court proceedings. It uses artificial intelligence and technology driven by natural language processing for live transcription.

The facility came into effect on February 21 this year.

Transcription is the next revolutionary step in series of similar procedures adopted to make functioning of courts more democratic and transparent. Earlier, people had to depend mainly on electronic and print media to get info about stuff happening in courts. That was not the case with legislative proceedings. Thanks to live broadcast, everyone could be privy to how their parliamentarians and MLAs interact and delve on policy.

In the case of judicial proceedings, media acted as intermediary of information, rendering people to rely on their versions and interpretation.

5 years ago, Supreme Court opened te gates for the live streaming of Court proceedings. CJI Chandrachud, one of the judges on the bench had famously remark "Sunlight is the best disinfectant",. Proper rules regarding live streaming were formed under Article 145 of the Constitution.

With the passage of time, the court has come to realise that language problem is too big to ignore for accessibility. Consequently, TERES, a company having its niche in providing transcription facilities to arbitration practitioners is being consulted for the same.