President Droupadi Murmu appointed Justice Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud as the 50th Chief Justice of India (CJI), on October 17
Justice DY Chandrachud will take oath on November 9 and will be in office for two years — until November 10, 2024
Justice Chandrachud’s key judgements
Justice Chandrachud was part of several benches that delivered many notable judgments in the recent past
His verdicts were marked by a reformist approach, especially in the arena of women’s rights
In August 2017, Justice Chandrachud was part of the nine-judge bench which upheld privacy as a fundamental right intrinsic to life and liberty
In a challenge to the validity of the Aadhaar scheme, Chandrachud was the sole dissenter who said that a person’s multiple identities can’t be reduced to a 12-digit number
In September 2018, when the Supreme Court read down Section 377 to decriminalise homosexuality Justice Chandrachud said it was an “antiquated and anachronistic colonial-era law”
His was the sole dissenting opinion upholding the rights of five activists arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case as he said “dissent is a symbol of a vibrant democracy”
Justice Chandrachud was also part of the five-judge Bench which unanimously upheld the Hindu side’s claim to the title of the Ram Janmabhoomi land
His latest judgment had held that single women are equally eligible to the protection of abortion laws.
Justice Chandrachud also upheld the right of women of menstrual age to enter the Sabarimala temple.
