CHANDIGARH: It’s perhaps for the first time after Partition that the Punjab and
Haryana high court has provided any litigant a Hindi version of the judgment.
This will set a precedent for other litigants. As per Article 348 (I) of the Constitution, official language for the purpose of rules, orders or any directions by the Supreme Court and high courts is English.
In its detailed judgment, passed on May 31, 2018, a division bench, comprising Justice M M S Bedi and Justice Hari Pal Verma, of the HC had sentenced Narnaul-based lawyer Manish Vashisth to one-month jail. The lawyer was held guilty of posting objectionable posts against the high court judge on his Facebook wall.
The lawyer had requested the court to show leniency before sentencing him but refused to apologies for his act.
While sentencing the lawyer, the court held that in case punishment is not awarded to a person who scandalizes and lowers the authority of the court and the judiciary in the eyes of general public, the latter’s faith in the judiciary will be shattered.
The bench had suspended the implementation of verdict till July 2, when the Supreme Court would re-open after summer vacations and the lawyer could file an appeal. As per the orders, Vashisth has to surrender before chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Narnaul on July 31.
After the judgment, the lawyer had made a written request to the court seeking the verdict’s copy in Devanagari script on the grounds that he had done his education in Hindi medium and this would help him in readying his appeal. Allowing his plea, the HC administration had supplied him the handwritten, 114-page Hindi version of the 67-page original judgment.
Earlier in October 2013, the Delhi high court, had rejected the plea of two death row convicts involved in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape case regarding Hindi translation of court orders.
The accused lawyer was provided the translated copy under Section 363 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which says that accused is entitled to a certified copy of judgment translated in his own language if practicable or in the language of the court.
Verdicts in Hindi, Urdu
While the officials of the high court refused to be quoted, they confirmed that it is perhaps for the first time that a judgment in Hindi has been provided to any party by the Punjab and Haryana high court. According to them, the HC used to provide copies of judgments in Hindi or Urdu in pre-Partition India, and based in Lahore.
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