Written By- Pretika Tiwari
Around 450 verdicts of the Supreme Court have been translated into twelve languages by the use of artificial intelligence. Hindi has topped the list of translations, followed by Tamil. Since the launch of the ambitious project in 2018, 469 verdicts have been launched. However, during the pandemic, the project was put on hold and is yet to be revived. An official of the Supreme Court said, “The focus on vernacular languages is more than ever, but like many other functions of the Court, Covid impacted the priority given to the project.”
Out of the 469 translated judgements, 243 are in Hindi, 70 in Tamil, and 42 were translated in Malayalam. The verdicts were also translated into Marathi, Kannad, Assamese, Punjabi and one Nepali. This project was put forward in October 2017 by President Ram Nath Kovind when he suggested that the translations of the judgements should be made available to the litigants. The President, while speaking at the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Kerala High Court, said, “It is important to not only take justice to the people but also to make it understandable to litigating parties in a language they know. The High Court delivers judgments in English, but we are a country of diverse languages.”
According to reports, the objective is to interpret High Court rulings instantly so that litigants can save time and money when filing an appeal with the Supreme Court. PM Modi and Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, spoke at the Chief Justices Conference on May 1 and emphasized the importance of encouraging the use of local languages in courts.
