The Supreme Court on Friday got another first. This time, a sign language interpreter translating the court proceedings for lawyers with hearing impairment appearing in the matters before the court.
A sign-language interpreter was seen interpreting the proceedings of the Supreme Court’s Court No. 1 for the hearing-impaired lawyer Sarah Sunny in a virtual window.
Introducing a new dimension in the court proceedings, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said, “We have an interpreter today for Sarah. In fact, we are thinking that for the constitution bench hearings we will have an interpreter so everyone can follow.”
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who was present in the courtroom when the CJI made the announcement, told him, “This is truly ‘historic and momentous’ moment that shows the ‘diversity in true sense’ in this court.”
After the matter, in which advocate Sarah was appearing, was over, Chief Justice Chandrachud told her, “Sarah, I hope this was intelligible to you and you were able to understand what was going on in the court.”
Responding through her interpreter, she said, “Yes sir, it was very helpful.”
As Sarah’s lawyer Sanchita Ain expressed gratitude to CJI Chandrachud for arranging the interpreter, the CJI replied, “It is our elementary duty to have a more diverse environment.”
CJI Chandrachud then told Sarah, “But Sarah, now you must start arguing your own matters.”
On September 22, CJI Chandrachud heading a bench heard Sarah through sign-language interpreter Saurav Roy Chowdhury in a case related to the rights of persons with disability (PwD).
Sarah had earlier filed an application before the top court registry requesting a court-appointed Indian sign language (ISL) interpreter to assist her.