Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud bid a fond farewell on his last working day on Friday as his colleagues recalled fond memories of working with him. DY Chandrachud was also known for his many pithy remarks and he left his mark in the annals of legal history.
His judgments on matters such as the Ayodhya land dispute, the decriminalization of consent to gay sex, and the right of unmarried women to abortion have shaped society and politics in his name.
DY Chandrachud recommended senior most judge Sanjiv Khanna as the next chief judicial officer. “When I leave the court, it won’t be any different because someone as stable as Judge Khanna will take over, and he will do so with great dignity,” he said at a farewell event on Friday.
DY Chandrachud was promoted to the Supreme Court in 2016 and took office as the Chief Justice on November 11, 2022. According to Supreme Court Observer, he has served on 1,275 judgeships. India Today reveals five major rulings that will have a lasting impact on society.
Judgment on privacy
A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled in August 2017 that the right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.
CJI Chandrachud wrote the judgment stressing that privacy is inherent in freedom and dignity. This decision affects other judgments related to data protection, Aadhaar and personal freedoms.
It all started in 2012 when retired judge KS Puttaswamy questioned the constitutional validity of the Adha Act. The Adha Bill legalizes India’s unique identification number scheme.
Judgment for homosexuality
On September 6, 2018, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court unanimously agreed to partially strike down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the 158-year-old law that criminalizes same-sex relations between consenting adults. crime.
The court ruled that the section’s provisions on homosexuality remained valid.
In a detailed unanimous opinion, CJI Chandrachud highlighted the harm caused by Article 377 by marginalizing an entire class of citizens. Citing his previous judgment in Puttaswamy’s case which affirmed the right to privacy, he argued that a denial of the right to sexual orientation was also a denial of privacy.
He stressed that human sexuality should not be “reduced to dualism” or narrowly defined as a mere means of procreation.
Judgment on Ayodhya dispute
In the most significant judgment, a five-judge bench headed by CJI Chandrachud granted the disputed Ayodhya land for construction of Rama temple and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide another site in Ayodhya for construction of mosque. The judgment, handed down in November 2019, resolved a thorny issue that had been going on for more than a century.
The Supreme Court overturned a 2010 ruling of the Allahabad High Court in which the disputed land was divided and given to the Temple and Mosque Trust for construction of the structures.
CJI Chandrachud had earlier said that he had prayed to God to resolve the Ayodhya dispute, a comment that sparked debate in political circles.
Abortion rights for unmarried women
In a major ruling, CJI Chandrachud expanded the rights of unmarried women, allowing them to have abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act up to 24 weeks, the same as married women.
The judgment emphasized women’s reproductive autonomy, affirming that a woman’s marital status should not affect her rights to her own body and choices related to pregnancy.
