Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday said that Indian courts and legal system must have regional languages in their curricular activities.

Speaking at the 12th Convocation of Dr Ambedkar Law University in Chennai, the minister stated that he has discussed with the top judiciary officials regarding the matter.

"I have spoken to the Chief Justice, senior judges of Supreme Court, all Chief Justices of High Courts that in future we must give priority to local languages," Rijiju claimed.

The law minister further said that it will be a matter of pride to see the Tamil language holding greater significance in the state's judicial system.

"In Tamil Nadu, we will be proud to see the Tamil language taking centre stage at the Madras High Court and all district courts and subordinate courts of Tamil Nadu," Rijiju added.

Earlier, on the occasion of Constitution Day, he claimed that the government is making efforts to collect legal glossaries published in regional languages, digitise them and make them available to the public in a searchable format.

Showing his concern, Rijiju said the language is becoming a barrier to accessing justice as legal terminology is not available in regional languages.

“In a vast country like India where 65% of the total population still lives in rural areas and where the regional and local language is the medium of understanding, language becomes one of the perceived barriers to ensuring universal access to justice in the country when legal material and legal terminology are not available in local language understandable by the common man," added the law minister.

Image courtesy: ANI