The Supreme Court Tuesday said live streaming of its
proceedings has taken the court to the homes and hearts of common citizens and
it is trying to use technology to ensure the live-streamed content is made
available simultaneously in languages other than English so more people can
follow.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief
Justice D Y Chandrachud observed this while hearing arguments for the
eighth-day on a batch of petitions seeking legal validation for same-sex
marriage.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Madhya
Pradesh, said an important fallout of the proceedings is that there is a
churning in society, and because of this debate and live streaming in different
corners of the country, people are thinking about the issue.
"The live-streaming of court proceedings has
really taken our court absolutely to the homes and to the hearts of the common
citizens and I think that is part of the process," said the CJI, who is
heading the bench which also comprises Justices S K Kaul, S R Bhat, Hima Kohli
and P S Narasimha.
Dwivedi said the only hindrance is that arguments in
the court happen in English, a language most people residing in villages don't
understand.
"You will be surprised that we are working even
on that also, Mr Dwivedi. Even that is not lost on the Supreme Court on its
administrative side," the CJI said.
"We are working on it, the transcripts which
you have there, we are now trying to use technology to ensure that the live
streaming contents can be simultaneously made available in languages which the
citizens can follow," Justice Chandrachud said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing
'Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind' in the matter, said technology now allows what a person
is speaking in English to be heard in different languages including Japanese.
The hearing in the matter is underway.
On May 3, the Centre had told the top court it will
constitute a committee headed by the cabinet secretary to examine
administrative steps that could be taken for addressing "genuine humane
concerns" of same-sex couples without going into the issue of legalising
their marriage.
The Centre's submission came pursuant to the apex
court asking it on April 27 whether social welfare benefits like opening joint
bank accounts, nominating life partner in provident funds, gratuity and pension
schemes can be granted to same-sex couples without going into the issue of
legal sanction to their marriage.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the
central government, had told the bench on May 3 that there were discussions at
the previous hearing about some genuine humane concerns of such couples and
whether something can be done to address those administratively.
"I have taken instructions and government is
positive. What we have decided is, of course subject to your lordships'
approval, that this would need coordination between more than one ministries.
So, therefore, a committee headed by no less than the cabinet secretary will be
constituted," he had told the bench.