Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud
Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, often referred to as DY Chandrachud, is a retired Indian jurist, who served as the 50th Chief Justice of India from 9 November 2022 to 10 November 2024. He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of India in May 2016. He has also previously served as the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court from 2013 to 2016 and as a judge of the Bombay High Court from 2000 to 2013. He also served as the ex-officio Patron-in-Chief of the National Legal Services Authority and the de facto Chancellor of the National Law School of India University.
The second child of India's longest-serving chief justice, Y. V. Chandrachud, he was educated at Delhi University and Harvard University and has practiced as a lawyer for Sullivan & Cromwell and in the Bombay High Court.
He has been part of benches that delivered landmark judgments such as the electoral bond scheme verdict, 2019 Supreme Court verdict on Ayodhya dispute, privacy verdict, decriminalisation of homosexuality, Sabarimala case, same-sex marriage case and on revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. He has visited the universities of Mumbai, Oklahoma, Harvard, Yale and others as a professor.
Early life and education
Dhananjaya Chandrachud was born in the Chandrachud family on 11 November 1959. His father Yeshwant Vishnu Chandrachud, is the longest serving chief justice of India and his mother, Prabha, was a classical musician who sang for All India Radio.After attending the Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, and St. Columba's School, Delhi, he graduated with honours in economics and mathematics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi in 1979. He then obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Delhi in 1982, followed by a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School in 1983. He was awarded an Inlaks Scholarship, offered to Indian citizens pursuing graduate education abroad, and received the Joseph H. Beale Prize at Harvard. He later earned Doctor of Juridical Science from Harvard Law School in 1986. His doctoral dissertation was on affirmative action where he considered the law in a comparative framework.
He has a notable interest in cricket. During his tenure, he presided over cases related to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, reflecting his engagement with cricket administration matters. His nickname "Danny" was given by a teacher during his school days in Mumbai.
Career
Chandrachud studied law at Delhi University in 1982 at a time when few jobs were available to young law graduates. He worked for a while, as a junior advocate assisting lawyers and judges, including drafting some briefs for Fali Nariman. After graduating from Harvard, Chandrachud first worked at the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell. He described this experience as "sheer fluke" due to the strong pecking order that existed at that time, and a strong bias against hiring Indians and men from developing countries. Upon returning to India, he practiced law at the Supreme Court of India and the Bombay High Court. He was designated a Senior Advocate by the Bombay High Court in June 1998. That year, he was appointed an Additional Solicitor General of India, a role he held until his appointment as a Judge.He became a judge at the Bombay High Court on 29 March 2000 and served there as a judge until his appointment as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court. During this time, he was also Director of the Maharashtra Judicial Academy. He was chief justice of the Allahabad High Court from 31 October 2013 until his appointment to the Supreme Court of India on 13 May 2016. Since 24 April 2021 he has been a part of the Collegium of the Supreme Court of India, which is a body composed of the five senior-most judges of the Supreme Court of India responsible for the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court of India and all the High Courts. On 17 October 2022, he was nominated the chief justice of India designate and after the retirement of the then chief justice, Uday Umesh Lalit, he was sworn in as the 50th chief justice of India on 9 November 2022.
Apart from his judicial service, Justice Chandrachud was also a visiting professor of comparative constitutional law at the University of Mumbai and University of Oklahoma College of Law in the United States. He has lectured at the Australian National University, Deakin University, Melbourne Law School, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i and the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
On 5 December 2023, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave wrote an open letter to Chandrachud stating that he was violating listing rules by moving politically sensitive cases to particular benches. On 7 December, a report published by Article 14 alleged that there have been irregularities in allocating politically sensitive cases to bench led by Justice Bela Trivedi. Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued that Chandrachud, instead of Trivedi, should have led the bench for the case related to the application of the Unlawful Activities Act against journalists and lawyers in relation to their reporting on the 2021 Tripura riots. In response, Chandrachud said on 15 December that Trivedi was given cases because Judge A. S. Bopanna was ill, stating: "It is very easy to fling allegations and letters".
Notable judgments
During his Supreme Court service, he had been on the highest number of constitutional benches constituted to hear matters on constitutional questions. During his tenure at the Supreme Court, he had delivered judgments on Indian constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, human rights, gender justice, public interest litigations, commercial law and criminal law.''Right to Privacy''
Among his notable judgments is his lead opinion in the Justice K. S. Puttaswamy and Anr. vs Union Of India And Ors. case as part of a unanimous nine-judge bench decision of the Indian Supreme Court, which affirmed that the right to privacy is a constitutionally guaranteed right. Chandrachud grounded the right to privacy in dignity, liberty, autonomy, bodily and mental integrity, self-determination and across a spectrum of protected rights. Writing for himself and three other judges, he stated:Dignity cannot exist without privacy. Both reside within the inalienable values of life, liberty and freedom which the Constitution has recognized. Privacy is the ultimate expression of the sanctity of the individual. It is a constitutional value which straddles across the spectrum of fundamental rights and protects for the individual a zone of choice and self-determination.The judgment is also noteworthy for his observations on sexual autonomy and privacy.
In 2013, a two judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in the Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation case upheld Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalized homosexuality. Chandrachud referred to the decision as striking "a discordant note which directly bears upon the evolution of the constitutional jurisprudence on the right to privacy." He observed that the decision was wrong as "the purpose of elevating certain rights to the stature of guaranteed fundamental rights is to insulate their exercise from the disdain of majorities, whether legislative or popular." He concluded by disagreeing "with the manner in which Koushal has dealt with the privacy – dignity-based claims of LGBT persons" and held that:
The test of popular acceptance does not furnish a valid basis to disregard rights which are conferred with the sanctity of constitutional protection. Discrete and insular minorities face grave dangers of discrimination for the simple reason that their views, beliefs or way of life does not accord with the 'mainstream'. Yet in a democratic constitution founded on the rule of law, their rights are as sacred as those conferred on other citizens to protect their freedoms and liberties. Sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy. Discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity and self-worth of the individual.The above observations played a role in the judgment of the Supreme Court declaring Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code unconstitutional.
He is also known for expressly overruling the ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla case in which the lead opinion was written by his father, the former chief justice of India Y. V. Chandrachud.
Free speech
Terming dissent as "the safety valve of democracy", he has authored judgments upholding the right to the freedom of speech in numerous cases. In Indibility Creative Pvt Ltd v State of West Bengal, he authored a judgment which imposed a fine on the State of West Bengal and granted remedial compensation for disallowing the screening of the political satire Bhobishyoter Bhoot through extra-constitutional measures. The Court had, by an interim order, directed that there must be no bar on the screening of the movie. In the final judgment, Chandrachud held that even if there was any apprehension of public discontent, police protection must be provided instead of prohibiting the display of the movie. The judgment is noteworthy for its recognition of the positive duty on the State to protect the freedom of speech and expression. He held that:Free speech cannot be gagged for fear of the mob…Political freedoms impose a restraining influence on the state by carving out an area in which the state shall not interfere. Hence, these freedoms are perceived to impose obligations of restraint on the state. But, apart from imposing 'negative' restraints on the state these freedoms impose a positive mandate as well. In its capacity as a public authority enforcing the rule of law, the state must ensure that conditions in which these freedoms flourish are maintained. In the space reserved for the free exercise of speech and expression, the state cannot look askance when organised interests threaten the existence of freedom. The state is duty bound to ensure the prevalence of conditions in which of those freedoms can be exercised. The instruments of the state must be utilised to effectuate the exercise of freedom.The judgment was reported for preventing the censorship of free speech and limiting its exceptions strictly to the grounds mentioned in Article 19 of the Constitution. In another occasion, he has ruled against freedom of expression in the UPSC Jihad case, "Your client is doing a disservice to the nation and is not accepting India is a melting point of diverse cultures. Your client needs to exercise his freedom with caution".
In the Romila Thapar & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors case, Chandrachud dissented with the majority which refused to constitute a Special Investigation Team to probe the case concerning the arrest of five activists in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and held that in light of the particular circumstances of the case, the constitution of a Special Investigation Team was necessary to ensure a fair and impartial investigation.
In the Chief Election Commissioner of India v. M.R. Vijayabhaskar case, Chandrachud upheld the freedom of speech and expression of the media in reporting court proceedings. In this case, the Election Commission of India sought to restrain the media from reporting the oral observations of judges. The plea came in the context of media reports on the observations of judges of the Madras High Court stating that the Election Commission was responsible for the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country for allowing political parties to hold massive rallies without adhering to the COVID-19 protocols. Dismissing the plea, the Supreme Court held that the plea by the Election Commission "strikes at the two fundamental principles guaranteed under the Constitution – open court proceedings; and the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression." The Court also recognised that reporting of judicial proceedings on social media is an extension of freedom of speech and expression that the media possesses.
In the suo motu writ petition dealing with the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chandrachud criticised certain State Governments for clamping down on free speech of citizens when they sought help for resources online. During the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Indians resorted to social media websites to source medical aid - procure oxygen, essential drugs or locate a hospital bed. State Governments in a bid to control the information on the abysmal state of healthcare system in their territories started registering police complaints against persons for posting pleas of help by stating that these were fake and were a bid to create panic and diminish the national image. Coming down harshly against such tactics in open court, Chandrachud remarked that there could be no clampdown on free flow of information, especially during a humanitarian crisis. The Supreme Court's order directed all Director Generals of Police to note that any such direct or indirect threats of prosecution or arrest against persons who air their grievances will amount to a contempt of court and invite penal action.