Robed in hope

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud is known as the judge who gives law a human face, is not afraid to dissent and speaks truth to power while possessing a brilliant legal mind that stays true to the Constitution

- SONI MISHRA

I was discussing the entire board with my brother judge, sorry,” said Justice Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud as he arrived one day in his court some months ago. He was late by ten minutes. It is not usual for a Supreme Court judge to apologise or offer an explanation if he or she comes late to the court. But Chandrachud, whenever he is late, apologises.

Chandrachud has endeared himself to a vast majority of court watchers with the manner in which he manages his court. His demeanour is said to be refreshingly different. If his humility is a rare quality in a person of his stature, he puts everyone at ease with his sense of humour.

Often at 4pm, he asks the lawyers in his court, “Don’t you feel the urge for a cup of tea?” Some time back, as the clock struck four, he elaborated on his love for tea and spoke about how he felt a strong craving for the beverage at that hour, which also happens to be the time for the court to wrap up for the day. He recalled that when he was a lawyer in the Bombay High Court, he would have his tea in the staff canteen which was next to a courtroom. When he became a judge, he sat in the same courtroom, and while he could smell tea being brewed in the canteen next door, he could not just enter the canteen anymore.

As chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, since the lawyers were more comfortable arguing in Hindi, he would help them shed their hesitation to switch from English to Hindi by starting off in his ‘Bambaiya Hindi’. Proceedings would commence in English, but would shift soon to Hindi and the lawyers appreciated the effort he took to make the situation more convenient for them.