Accused cannot seek translated version of case documents as right says Madras HC

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has held that an accused in a criminal case cannot seek a translated version of police reports and other case documents in the mother tongue as a right.

Referring to various case orders, Justice G Chandrasekharan said that it is not possible to furnish copies of the prosecution’s documents, including the complaint, final report and the statement of witnesses, in the respective mother tongue of the accused.

Even though some accused are literate and others illiterate, they are assisted by their advocates, who know both Tamil and English, and understand the case of the prosecution, the statement of witnesses and other necessary details concerning the case.

“Thus, this court is of the view that the accused is not entitled to claim as a matter of right the translated version of copies furnished under Section 207 of CrPC in their mother tongue,” he ordered on Tuesday, while dismissing a petition filed by Ramamurthy seeking to set aside the order of the Additional Sessions Court in Hosur in 2022.

The additional sessions court had dismissed a petition filed by Ramamurthy who was seeking copies of documents in Telugu as he is not conversant in Tamil. Ramamurthy is one of the accused in the murder of Saravanan and Srikanth, the crew of a truck from Tamil Nadu, who were bludgeoned to death with an iron rod and their bodies were dumped on the Pambaleru river at Goodur on Chennai-Hyderabad Highway. Copper plates were stolen from the truck by the accused.

During arguments, Government Advocate (criminal side) S Santhosh, representing the CB-CID, submitted that filing a petition seeking copies of the documents in Telugu language is nothing but an abuse of the process of court with a view to protract the proceedings.