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| When Will English be banished from Indian Courts? | | 
By Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik
After all when will Indian languages be used in the Higher Courts of India? When will English be banished from them? It has been more than 67 years that India has gained independence but in our High Courts, the slavery of English is continuing till date. All our laws and ordinances are also drafted in English. Why nobody has attacked this slavery in our Parliament and High courts? It is so because the article 348 of Indian Constitution says that the language of the Supreme Court and the High Courts shall remain English. Neither the judges would be able to give their judgments in Hindi or in any regional language nor the lawyers can prosecute the case in Indian languages. They will have to do all their work in English. If any judge or advocate wishes to use Indian language he would not be permitted to do so.
There is a ban on Indian languages in the Higher Courts of India. What could be more shameful for this country? But our esteemed judges and able lawyers keep on putting up with this insult. They are clueless because they have studied the law in English and in India only that law is enforced which has been laid down by the Britishers. In the past 67 years although we have been framing the law in our Parliament, but that too in English. These laws are written in the same complicated style which was a Colonial one. Even those, who are proficient in English fail to understand it. Even the skilled judges and advocates get so bugged up that even simple cases get procrastinated for years. Till date more than 3 crore cases are pending in our courts. Most of time and energy of judges and lawyers squandered in unraveling the meanings of the English terms. John Stuart Mill has very well said that the justice delayed is justice denied. These laws, and the arguments on them and the judgment passed there on become a matter of sorcery for a common man. Against this very act, a lawyer filed a PIL in the Supreme Court. He has demanded amendment in article 348. The official language of the Supreme Court must be made Hindi and in High Courts, the use of regional languages must be allowed.
This case is under consideration in Supreme Court but a strange thing has happened of late. The Court has asked for its opinion from Rajbhasha Department Of Government of India which is supposed to have a major role in promotion of Hindi language. The Department tells the Supreme Court not to impose Hindi on judges and lawyers against their wish. Let the High Courts continue with English. Here this official view provokes me to think that why did we fight for independence? The way English has been imposed on us, even Britishers could have continued to rule us. I ask the Government is this your Rajbhasha Department or the Department of slavery? The suggestion by the department shows how moron it is? Its opinion is a blot on the government of Narendra Modi. Till now Narendra Modi has earned lot of appreciation and fame by focusing on the use of Hindi but Rajbjhasha Department has drained down his efforts. If our Home minister and Prime Minister do not act against the Department of Rajbhasha then BJP government would become a fake nationalist party in the eyes of the common man and its nationalism would be tagged as false nationalism. Lakhs of devoted BJP leaders and Sangh workers who have been raised on the slogans of Hindi and Hindustan, would distance themselves from this government. It would be considered that if Modi is also like any other ordinary Prime Minister and not a real leader. The way previous governments used to get enslaved by English and toe the line of the bureaucrats, the same way this party with clear mandate is also following into their footsteps. What did the people of India gain by giving it clear majority? Its leadership is also handicapped like that of Congress. The power has detached her from its ideological moorings. This government has forgotten its manifesto on the question of language. Yes, Narendra Bhai, you must establish Hindi in the United Nations but first save it at home from being crushed under the boots of English.
All the countries of the world who are called superpowers, have their own language in their High Courts. Its only in some former slave countries like India that a foreign language has the monopoly. As the education level rose in European countries, the prosperity increased, modernization got accelerated and self esteem boosted, they shook off Greek and Latin and adopted their own language in totality. In 1539, France said goodbye to Latin from its courts. In the 18th century, Germany shrugged off Latin. English courts were so much slavish to German and French languages that if someone used English in the courts, he had to pay the penalty to the tune of few pounds. But in 1362, English was declared as the official language of the British courts. Same way in the last 100 years, Russian in Russian courts and Chinese in Chinese courts is used. In the courts of many European countries, English is banned.
The high courts of these powerful countries do not use any foreign language because it violates their human rights. The argument which is not comprehended by the litigant and the defendant is a travesty of justice. It is not justice but injustice. If only a handful of people can understand the judicial process, it is not justice but a conspiracy. It is against the tenets of the democracy. Why is the judicial process so expensive in India? Why has it gone beyond the reach of a common man? Just because it is in a foreign language. It is used as a Jadu-Tona, a witchcraft, to fleece the common folk.
We expect from the nationalistic government of Narendra Modi that it brushes aside the fake excuses to continue English in our courts and as per the advice of Rajbhasha Parliamentary Advisory Committee, it must bring a constitutional amendment bill without delay under which Hindi must be declared as the official language of the Supreme Court and all 24 High Courts must get facility to use their regional languages. For the lawyers and judges for whom English is unavoidable, there may be immunity for five years. After that a fine must be imposed on the use of English. This rule must be enforced on Parliament’s law making process too. No law should be drafted in a foreign language. The law should be taught at our universities in our own language, if at all we want a real democracy to flourish in our country.
(The author is a well-known Scholar, Political Analyst, Orator and a Columnist on national and international affairs. Dr. Vaidik worked with Press Trust of India for a decade as the Founder-Editor of its Hindi News Agency “BHASHA” Chairman,Council For Indian Foreign Policy.Feedback :[email protected])
(Opinions expressed in write-ups/articles/Letters are the sole responsibility of the authors and they may not represent the scoopnews.in)
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