The Supreme Court has come up with a handbook, which would deal with combating gender stereotypes, guiding judges for avoiding inappropriate usage of gender terms in court orders and legal documents.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said that book identifies stereotypes unwittingly used by courts in various judgments.
He said they have been highlighted so that it will help judges to avoid stereotyping by recognising language that leads to such stereotypes.
The Chief Justice of India also said that the certain decisions have been highlighted for ensuring usage of terms which should be avoided by judges in future. It also added not to cast any aspersion on such judgments or the judges who authored those verdicts.
The CJI said that the handbook identifies stereotypes used by courts and how they are unwittingly used.
He added that the handbook was not taken out with the aim to cast aspersion on judgments, but to apprise the judges to avoid it by recognising the language, which lead to stereotypes. It highlighted the binding decisions, which have highlighted (sic) the same.
The CJI added that the manual and the tutorial for e-filing have been uploaded on the Supreme Court’s website and it would be followed by the handbook.
In a recent case, the CJI had approved gender-neutral restrooms and online appearance slips at the Supreme Court.
In the recently approved gender-neutral restroom, nine universal, gender-neutral restrooms are proposed to be constructed at different locations in the main building as well as the additional building complex of the Supreme Court.
Read the handbook here:
Handbook-1