New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud Sunday said that work is in progress to ensure that legal processes become easier and simplified so that citizens do not languish in jails unnecessarily.
The CJI was speaking at the inauguration of the Constitution Day celebrations at the apex court. President Droupadi Murmu delivered the inaugural address at the programme, which was also attended by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, apex court judges Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Attorney General R Venkataramani, and others.
The CJI said on Constitution Day last year, the President had raised concerns over the overcrowding of prisons and incarceration of citizens from marginalised backgrounds. "…I want to assure you (President) that we are constantly working to ensure that legal processes become easier and simplified so that citizens don't languish in jails unnecessarily," he said.
Justice Chandrachud said that version 2.0 of the FASTER (Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records) application that will be launched today ensures judicial orders of release of a person are immediately transferred to the jail authorities to district courts and the high courts by electronic means so that the person is released on time. “In addition, on the judicial side, the Supreme Court has been hearing cases related to prisoners’ rights and overcrowding among other things”, he said.
“I have also tasked the Centre for Research and Planning of the Supreme Court to come up with a project to improve the conditions of the prison and to improve upon age-old and obsolete prison manuals," Justice Chandrachud said.
He stressed that the goal behind these initiatives has been to ensure that people feel that the constitutional institution of the judiciary is working for them. “Similarly, the statue of Dr Ambedkar which we unveiled today on the Supreme Court premises is an extension of the thought that the right to approach the court is the heart and soul of the Constitution...," he said.
Talking about technology and its use by the judiciary, Justice Chandrachud spoke about the launch of 'e-sewa kendras' in all courts to ensure that no citizen was left behind in the judicial process. "Technology is not meant to distance us from our citizens but to take us into the lives of our citizens. We embrace our citizens as co-equal partners in a shared national endeavour," he said.
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