Chief Justice DY Chandrachud spoke exclusively to NDTV in Bengaluru
A judgment is a judgment, and you have to apply your mind to it as a judge, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud told NDTV in response to a question about overturning two verdicts by his father and former Chief Justice YV Chandrachud.
The Chief Justice spoke exclusively to NDTV on the sidelines of a lecture at National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, in the memory of India's 19th Chief Justice ES Venkataramaiah. Supreme Court judge Justice BV Nagarathna, the daughter of Justice Venkataramaiah who is in line to be India's first woman Chief Justice, was also present.
Chief Justice Chandrachud said he is honoured to present the lecture in memory of the former Chief Justice, whom he described as "one of the most distinguished, erudite and scholarly judges" of the Supreme Court.
On the many changes the Supreme Court has witnessed in recent times, including live telecast of proceedings, the Chief Justice said, "We are doing many things to make this a truly modern judiciary for the coming decades, incorporating more technology, but above all, it's service to the citizens which is at the forefront."
On overturning the two judgments by his father in the adultery case and in another case regarding the right to life and personal liberty during a national emergency, the Chief Justice said with a smile, "A judgment is a judgment. You have to apply your mind to it as a judge. At the end of it, of course, you are conscious of the fact whose judgment it was that I overturned, it was my father's judgment, in ADM Jabalpur and Sowmithri Vishnu (case) later on. But ultimately, it boils down to our training as judges."
The ADM Jabalpur case judgment came during the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government from June 1975 to March 1977. The ruling, passed by a 4:1 majority, decreed that a person's right to not be unlawfully detained can be suspended in the interest of the State. At the time, Justice PN Bhagwati was the Chief Justice and Justice YV Chandrachud was among the four judges who supported the majority ruling. This judgment was overturned in the Right to Privacy verdict in 2017, with the order noting that judgments in the ADM Jabalpur case were "seriously flawed" and that "life and personal liberty are inalienable to human existence".
The 1985 Sowmithri Vishnu case judgment was overturned in 2018 when a Supreme Court bench led by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justice DY Chandrachud ruled that adultery "can be a ground for a civil offence... for divorce..." but not a criminal offence.