CJI Chandrachud Asks Visually-Challenged Lawyer To Help Make Courts More Disabled-Friendly

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud enlisted the help of senior advocate SK Rungta, who is the first visually-impaired lawyer to hold a senior position, to make courtrooms and proceedings more digitally accessible for the disabled.

Rungta had earlier suggested using software that could translate text documents into braille, thus helping visually-challenged lawyers to access documents mentioned during the hearings. This suggestion left CJI Chandrachud impressed, and he decided to ask National Informatics Centre (NIC) to coordinate with Rungta for the same.

How Did The Interaction Begin?

The Senior Advocate was presenting a case relating to electricity tariff in court hall 1 of the apex court in front of a bench presided over by CJI Chandrachud, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice JB Pardiwala. During the court proceedings, CJI Chandrachud noticed that Rungta could quickly understand text documents that were being cited in the court.

So, the CJI, now very curious, asked Rungta, "I wanted to ask you a personal question. I hope you don't mind it. The other counsel is citing a compilation. How do you follow it in court?" To this, Rungta answered that it was using software which converts text to braille.

As the chairman of the e-committee, CJI Chandrachud was impressed by the use of software and informed the advocate that he would like his assistance in making the courts more disabled-friendly.

During the discussion with senior counsel Rungta, the CJI pointed out that in order to make the Supreme Court website more accessible, he enlisted the help of his former colleague Rahul Bajaj. Now, the website gives an audio captcha, too, for the visually impaired, instead of an image captcha. The CJI even instructed everyone that documents filed in his court have to be in a soft copy format to increase accessibility.

Rungta To Meet NIC Scientists

Senior counsel Rungta welcomed the CJI's request but pointed out a few things. As per a report by Hindustan Times, he said, "As we are moving towards digitalisation, the software that is used in the court ought to be compatible with the software we are using in our devices so that the material can be converted to braille." He added that text documents can be easily converted to voice using common software; however, a voice format cannot be used in the courtroom.

CJI Chandrachud noted the points and stated that he will ask the head scientist at NIC to coordinate with Rungta so that they can sit together and discuss the utility of the software. He said, "It is not merely going to help the Supreme Court lawyers, but I want to do it for courts across the country."

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