Perception and direction: The public engagements of Chief Justice Chandrachud

Unlike previous Chief Justices of India, who have kept restrained public profiles, CJI D.Y. Chandrachud displayed a certain keenness for public engagements. His charismatic personality was on full display on these occasions, which frequently featured a characteristic balance of dissemination, authority and humour.

Attending seminars, addressing legal and non-legal forums, delivering speeches at national and international conferences, and even singing carols on Christmas Eve, we’ve seen him do it all. He has also reflected on landmark decisions of the court and announced several institutional reforms. He broke new ground by becoming the first sitting Chief to field live questions in a public forum.

Just days after his appointment as India’s 50th Chief Justice, he spoke at a leadership summit about the challenges faced by the judiciary in a digital world. He pondered if judges must “re-engineer and refashion” themselves in the rise of social media. He emphasised transparency in democratic institutions and pressed for the expansion of livestreaming to district courts.

Under his leadership, the Court has been more visible in the media and ramped up its own outreach initiatives. In November 2023, it launched a monthly newsletter titled the Supreme Court Chronicle, which highlights key developments. The 12 issues published on the Supreme Court’s website host a barrage of pictures on the regular public engagements of the Chief and other judges of the Court. In the inaugural issue, Justice Chandrachud announced that the Chronicle paved the way for “a new era of transparency, connectedness and progress for the Court with various stakeholders in the justice-delivery ecosystem”. The 12 issues which are available on the Court’s website, are packed with pictures from the regular public engagements of the Chief and other judges.

On gender equality and inclusivity

A focal point of former CJI Chandrachud’s media interactions has been his advocacy for gender sensitivity and fostering inclusive spaces for women in the legal profession.

On International Women’s Day in 2023, he asserted the need for a “gender-equal workspace and environment.” That day, he also announced the idea of a “legal glossary” highlighting problematic terms common in everyday judicial language. “I have come across judgements where women were called a ‘concubine’ and a ‘keep’,” he said.

In August 2023, the Supreme Court launched a Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes, which listed gender-biased terminology prevalent in court orders and legal documents, while also providing alternative non-problematic phrases. Commentators have pointed out that the Handbook, while progressive, fell short of addressing “the diverse and intersectional experiences of women.”

In October 2023, Justice Chandrachud welcomed 42 newly appointed women civil judges to observe the proceedings at the Supreme Court. The newly appointed judges had joined the junior division in the district judiciary of Maharashtra. Two months later, at a lecture commemorating former Chief Justice E.S. Venkataramaiah, Justice Chandrachud observed that women were confined to “service-oriented and often sexualised” occupations in public spaces.

While delivering a keynote address at an event organised by an English-language news channel event, he cited feminist author Caroline Criado Perez and her description of the “male default” and noted that tennis player Andy Murray’s Wimbledon victory was celebrated with more pomp than Virginia Wade’s success decades ago or the achievements of the Williams’ sisters more recently. He referenced the judgement in Anuj Garg v Hotel Association of India (2007), where a law barring women from working in alcohol-serving establishments was struck down by the Court on the ground that it furthered an “oppressive cultural norm”.

While he made all the right noises on gender diversity and equality, the Collegium he led did not recommend a single woman to the top court. In his two years as Chief, 17 judges (more than half the sitting strength) were appointed to the Supreme Court. Today, only two women are on the bench of 32 sitting judges.

On cases and judgements

During his eight-and-a-half-year tenure, Justice Chandrachud authored 612 judgements. As Chief Justice, he wrote at least 90 judgements. Many of his judgements have moved the needle on jurisprudence in matters concerning privacy, autonomy, federalism and constitutional interpretation.

Typically, judges have steered clear of reflecting about or passing comments on judgements in public. CJI Chandrachud however, has made the occasional public comment. In January 2024, when preparations for the inauguration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya were in full swing, he had this to say about the fact no single judge was attributed the authorship of the Ayodhya judgement: “We all decided unanimously that this will be a judgement of the court and therefore there was no authorship ascribed to an individual judge.” More recently, in the lead-up to his retirement, he revealed that he sat before “the deity” and prayed for a solution to the Ayodhya title dispute.

He refused to comment on criticism for the judgement which upheld the abrogation of Article 370 judgement but he opened up about the marriage equality verdict. Along with Justice S.K. Kaul, he had partially dissented in the case by recognising the right to a civil union for sexual minorities in the country. “…the important part of the life of a judge is never to associate yourself with a cause,” he remarked, adding that society’s evolution would ultimately determine the direction of queer rights in India.

At an event organised by the Marathi newspaper Loksatta, he spoke about how the Court’s recent decisions on state governments having power to tax industrial alcohol and minerals promoted a centripetal form of federalism. Even more recently, in an interview, he remarked that he had granted bail from “A-Z, from Arnab to Zubair.”

The post-judgement interactions could, at times, be viewed as strategically-timed media engagements, particularly with major rulings such as the Ayodhya title dispute and marriage equality. Each interview has been a balancing act—one that carefully threads between public sentiment and informing the audience of the complex judicial process by which cases are decided.

On technology and digitisation

CJI Chandrachud believed that the use of technology in courtrooms was key to improving access to justice. Even strong critiques of his tenure have not discredited his technology-related initiatives “If you want to be a judge, then you have to be tech-friendly. Technology is no longer a matter of choice,” CJI had said in October 2023.

In January 2024, when asked to choose the most socially impactful judgement of the previous year, he responded: “I may be criticised for being partisan… but technology is very close to my heart. So one of my favourite cases is something related to technology, which was Sarvesh Mathur v The Registrar General (2023), where we gave a slew of directions to High Courts to ensure that there is greater incorporation of technology in the working of the High Courts.”

A video produced by the Court to commemorate its 75 years, opens with a sequence showing the Court’s functionaries setting up for the day’s proceedings. Touch screens pop up, cameras are switched on, mics are adjusted, and case dockets are opened in PDFs, which are displayed on-screen. Once everything is in place, a voice announces: “Court is ready”. It almost feels like the opening of a sci-fi movie.

In Court as well as events, technology at the top court was a point of discussion. At the inaugural session of a national conference for the district judiciary, Justice Chandrachud commented that technology and young, tech-savvy recruits are reshaping India’s judicial landscape. Addressing over 800 district judges from across the country, he highlighted the significant strides made through the e-Courts project, which he claimed digitised 3,500 court complexes and over 22,000 courtrooms.

However, the heightened reliance on technology has also raised some questions. For one, this rapid digitisation has failed to reach the subordinate judiciary. Moreover, with clips of hearings and courtroom interactions going viral, the Court has had to grapple with the growing questions about performative justice and whether livestreaming may be affecting their judicial choices. Further, despite all these strides, administrative and bureaucratic delays in the listing of cases continue to weigh heavy on the Court.

The last mile

In the lead-up to his retirement, Justice Chandrachud’s public engagements were more reflective.

Speaking at the convocation ceremony of a law school in Bhutan in October 2024, he said that he was filled with doubt and anxiety about the past and the future. He asked the students to ask themselves a single question, “Am I running towards a destination, or am I running towards myself?” A few days later, in another interview, he expressed confidence that he had “left the system better than I found it.” Citing landmark judgments on disability rights, the right to information, economic federalism, and equal opportunity protections against sex and caste discrimination, he emphasised his commitment to progressive jurisprudence.

He also offered explanations for some of the more controversial moments during his tenure, such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting his residence for Ganesh Puja. “Deals are never cut like this,” he said, to address concerns about the blurring of lines between executive and judiciary, “So please, trust us; we are not there to cut deals.” Clarifying that the puja was a private event, he remarked that “there was absolutely nothing wrong for the simple reason that these are continuing meetings between the judiciary and the executive, even at a social level.”

A time to refresh or restart?

The visibility that the Supreme Court has gained is here to stay. At the Ceremonial Bench organised on CJI Chandrachud’s last day, the incoming CJI Sanjiv Khanna remarked that CJI Chandrachud had made his life easy and difficult. “Easy because of the revolutions ushered in and tough because I cannot walk up to him.”

The unprecedented publicity of the Chandrachud era has turned the lens on the Court in a definitive way. The institution’s critics are ever-growing, but so are its supporters. Ultimately, though, Justice Chandrachud’s tenure reminds us that institutional evolution is as much about the questions it raises as the answers it provides. The judiciary is now at one of its many crossroads. Will the momentum for reform persist or will it peter out in the face of public scrutiny on its unresolved challenges? Will the new Chief be more consistent in matching rhetoric with results? Will we hear as much from and about the Court as we have in the last couple of years? We will know soon enough.