Petitioner stopped in SC for speaking Hindi: Judge said - Speak in English

Petitioner stopped in SC for speaking Hindi: Judge said - Speak in English; Hearing is held in English only in Supreme and High Court

Nov 19, 2022 - 23:10
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Petitioner stopped in SC for speaking Hindi: Judge said - Speak in English

A petitioner in the Supreme Court was barred from speaking his mind. The petitioner named Shankar Lal Sharma was speaking when the judge started stopping him. Sharma kept on speaking with folded hands. The petitioners were arguing in Hindi and both the judges conducting the hearing did not know Hindi. Actually, the hearing in the Supreme Court and the High Court is only in English.
A bench of Justice KM Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy was hearing the case. Shankarlal had reached the court with a bundle of papers in his hand. The petitioner did not have a lawyer. He himself was giving his arguments in court. The judges said that whatever you are saying, we do not understand anything. The language of this court is not Hindi. The petitioner kept on speaking as he did not understand English. The judges started looking surprised at this.
While all this was happening, a lawyer was waiting for his turn in the court for another case. She and Additional Solicitor Madhavi Divan came forward and explained to the petitioner in Hindi that whatever he was saying, the bench was not understanding anything.
After this, the petitioner demanded a lawyer for himself from the court. On this, the court asked the lawyer who explained to the petitioner whether they would like to see the matter, to which the lawyer immediately agreed. Justice Joseph told the petitioner that we have read the case file. This is a very complicated matter, but we do not understand what you are saying. The next hearing of the case will be on December 4.
Recently, many such cases have come to the fore, in which the petitioner or the complainant himself appears in the High Court and the Supreme Court. This also happens because they are not aware of the free legal aid available in the court. Actually, in the year 1976, Article 39A was added to the 42nd amendment of the constitution.
Under this, a person gets free legal aid who is away from justice due to lack of financial or any other thing. This can be done by contacting the National Legal Services Authority or its website i.e. https://nalsa.gov.in/lsams/.
According to Article 348(1) of the Constitution, the language of proceedings in the Supreme Court and the High Court is English. Even the court itself does not have the right to change the language. Although the language can be changed if the Parliament wants.

Muskan Kumawat Journalist & Writer