Supreme Court drops seductress, slut from legal vocab among other terms

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday issued a handbook restricting words promoting stereotypes, in particular of those about women. The court schooled judges for refraining to use words like “career woman”, “fallen woman”, “housewife” and the likes in their judicial writings and decision making.

However, the apex court has also rolled out a number of alternative words that can be used instead. The court recommended using “clothing” instead of “provocative clothing”, “woman” (instead of whore) and mother instead of calling her unwed mother.

The list is on-going that intends to aware judges against using the stereotypical words. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud released the handbook on August 16 asking judges to identify such words and discuss why they are inappropriate.

The handbook mentioned that the stereotypes is often in subconscious that influences thoughts and actions towards other people. It said the stereotypes can prevent them to realise the reality of the situation and can cloud their judgement.

The Supreme Court, a bench of 5 judges headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud heard the debate on the petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has launched a handbook, which lists words that can and cannot be used legally.

The CJI’s glossary was prepared by Calcutta High Court Judge Moushumi Bahttacharya that flags common as well as incorrect glossary often used on gender stereotypes.

The post Supreme Court drops seductress, slut from legal vocab among other terms appeared first on News24.