Judiciary needs to shed resistance, adopt modern means of communication like Twitter: Chandrachud
New Delhi, Jul 31: The judicial institution has to give up resistance to adopting modern means of communication in order to reach out to the masses and earn the respect of the community at large, or else it will "lose the game", Supreme Court judge DY Chandrachud said on Sunday, referring to tools like social media platforms.
The top court judge, who is in line to become the Chief Justice of India later this year, said that courts have been "reticent" to modern means of communication.
He was of the view that judges and judiciary have to "shed their fear", whether it is about using platforms like Twitter and Telegram, which are now widely prevalent, or the live streaming of proceedings.
"There is a world of accountability at large and I think we can earn the respect of the community at large provided we adopt and come on the platforms which are so prevalent in the society. The judicial system cannot be left behind if we are to be the harbinger of change," Justice Chandrachud said at an event here.
"Unless, we as a judicial institution, shake this resistance to adopting these means of communications, which are so widespread in our society today, we would perhaps lose the game and I do believe that we are already in the process of losing the game unless we shake this fear as to what would happen if we use modern means of communication," he said.
Justice Chandrachud was speaking at the valedictory ceremony of the first All India District Legal Service Authorities held at Vigyan Bhawan here.
He said that technology today has given tools for instant messaging and unidirectional communication through which one can load information and transmit information but the recipient of the information cannot edit or change the information.
"Now it is very important for us, we have been very reticent, the Supreme Court is very reticent, the High Courts are even more reticent and the district court look up to the High Court and therefore they are even more reticent on the use of modern means of communication including Twitter, the Telegram channel," he said.
Justice Chandrachud, who heads the E-Committee of the Supreme Court which looks after the computerisation of the judiciary, said, "I think this resistance to using the means of communication has to change because we can reach out to our citizens by using the language of discourse which is becoming so prevalent in society".
Pointing to the reservation over adopting live streaming of judicial proceedings in the courts, Justice Chandrachud said, "Judges across the board feel well, what will happen if I start live streaming my court proceedings? Will the people start assessing us? Or we will lose the respect of the community if we live stream court proceedings.
"Yes, of course, some of us will lose the respect of the community. But, we will lose the respect of the community by showing to the world at large how we conduct ourselves when we sit there on the dais," he said, adding it would also be a reminder that the judges have to change the way they have been functioning.
Justice Chandrachud also highlighted several technological interventions which are being adopted by the Supreme Court and the judiciary under the aegis of the E-Committee.
He said that special focus will be on the institutionalisation of mechanism where data of every convict and undertrial prisoner are available and proceedings from district level to state level can be monitored.
Besides Justice Chandrachud, executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) Justice UU Lalit and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the efforts of District Legal Services Authorities (DLSA) in providing legal aid to the people and giving them access to the justice.
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Skipper Curran, bowlers lead PBKS to a five-wicket win over RR
Guwahati, May 15: Skipper Sam Curran played the lead act hitting a well-paced fifty and taking two wickets, as Punjab Kings consigned Rajasthan Royals to a five-wicket defeat in their IPL match here on Wednesday.
The target was a mere 145, but Kings made heavy weather of it on a sluggish track here but Curran (63 not out, 41b, 5x4, 3x6) had a calm head and skills to lift them to their fifth win of the season. PBKS made 145/5 in 18.5 overs.
The Englishman received good support from Jitesh Sharma (22, 20b) as the pair added 63 runs in a fluent fifth wicket partnership.
For Royals, it was their fourth defeat on the trot, but they remained second on the table with 16 points with a qualification to the playoffs to boot with.
The Kings’ chase began on a shaky note as they lost Prabhsimran Singh in the first over itself to Trent Boult.
But bigger jolts were in store as an impressive Avesh Khan (2/28) scalped two wickets in the fifth over.
The right-arm pacer first plucked the important wicket of Rilee Rossouw, who played some strong shots in his 13-ball 22, and then jettisoned in-form Shashank Singh for a two-ball naught.
Shashank failed to connect a fuller, straighter one from Avesh while attempting a flick, and the 141 kmph delivery thudded on his bat. Shashank did not even bother to use DRS as he walked away.
Punjab gained some ground through the alliance between Curran and Jitesh, who smoked R Ashwin for two sixes.
Curran too gave a dose of punishment to the veteran offie, lofting him for a wonderful six over extra cover.
But the blossoming stand was snapped by Yuzvendra Chahal (2/31), leaving PBKS at 111 for five in the 16th over.
However, Curran and Ashutosh Sharma (17 not out, 11 balls) knocked off the remaining runs without further drama.
Earlier, despite a well-tuned 48 from local hero Riyan Parag, RR struggled against an array of accurate bowlers on a rather slow pitch, meandering to a sub-par 144 for nine.
R Ashwin (28, 19b, 3x4, 1x6) and Parag (48, 34, 6x4) tried to accelerate during their 50-run stand for the fourth wicket but it could only bring in a temporary momentum for RR.
In fact, lethargy had set in very early in the Rajasthan innings after the early loss of Jaiswal, who chopped a Curran (2/24) delivery back on to his stumps.
Sanju Samson (18), who went past 500-run in a season for the first time in his IPL career, and Tom-Kohler Cadmore (18, 23b) stitched 36 runs for the second wicket but took six overs for it.
But with Curran and Arshdeep finding a hint of swing and maintaining a good line, scoring was not an easy proposition for the RR batters.
Eventually, Samson, who tried a hopping cut off pacer Nathan Ellis, gave a simple catch to Rahul Chahar at point in the seventh over.
Cadmore too returned to the dugout in the next over, as his almighty heave off leg-spinner Chahar (2/26) could not progress beyond Jitesh in the deep.
Those twin dismissals actually paved the way for the best phase in the Royals’ innings as Ashwin and Parag pressed their foot on the right pedal.
Ashwin displayed his batting skills, smashing Chahar for 17 runs in the 12th over that included a sequence of 6, 4, 4 and the first four was a stunning reverse scoop over backward point.
But he could not further extend his innings, lofting Arshdeep to Shashank.
Parag, usually a free-flowing batter, had to curb his flair in front of a hugely adoring home crowd because of the regular fall of wickets at the other end.
But a late cut off Curran that sped to third man stood as a testament of his ability and timing as he also moved past the 500-run mark for the season, before getting trapped in front of the wicket by Harshal Patel.
However, apart from conquering those little peaks the RR batters failed to slip into the top gear consistently.
