Keywords: Hindi, Proceedings, Statements, Witness, National language
Justice Dipankar Dutta from West Bengal, is a Supreme Court judge and in a recent judgement, upheld the use of Hindi language in Uttar Pradesh tribunal proceedings. It was mentioned that Hindi being the national and official language of India, is expected to be used as the medium of communication by the witnesses when they appear before the tribunal of Uttar Pradesh. This way, it was made obligatory for the witnesses in the court of UP to give their testimony in Hindi.
Surprisingly, in the present case, the witnesses were also of the West Bengal origin and it is worth observing that Justice Dipankar Dutta who hails from the same place upheld employing the Hindi language for the official proceedings.
The present case was a case of motor accident occurred in Farrukhabad, UP and the vehicle owner filed a plea to transfer the case to West Bengal’s MACT of Darjeeling as all its witnesses hailed from Siliguri, West Bengal. The argument stating the case is warranted to be transferred to MACT Darjeeling because of the occurrence of accident in Siliguri got dismissed and the plea got rejected acknowledging the fact that despite the linguistic diversity in India, the witnesses are expected to present their statements in Hindi before the court of Uttar Pradesh’s MACT of Fatehgarh[1].
This decision of Supreme Court underpins the Hindi language and its usage thereby emphasizing and upholding its significance as the India’s national and official language.
Written by – Vaishnavi N, College name – Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bengaluru, 3rd semester, An intern under Legal Vidhiya
[1] Bar and Bench, https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/hindi-national-language-witnesses-west-bengal-expected-communicate-up-court-hindi-supreme-court (last visited on 4th Aug, 2023).
