Supreme Court Objects To Litigant Making Submissions In Hindi, Emphasizes Court Proceedings Must Be In English

The Supreme Court today (September 13) objected to a litigant making submissions in Hindi, stating that the official language of the Court is English.

A bench of Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti was dealing with an SLP against Allahabad High Court order allowing plea by petitioner's wife to transfer a cruelty and dowry case against the petitioner from the Basti District to Prayagraj.

When the matter was called out, the petitioner began making his submissions in Hindi. After he finished telling the court about the issue involved and the HC order, Justice Roy reminded him about the court's language.

Justice Roy stated, “The proceedings in this court are in English. You have appeared in person, so therefore we have not stopped you in between so that you are able to say whatever you want to say. There are two judges who are sitting here, and you can't be permitted to make your arguments in this fashion in Hindi without ascertaining whether the court is capable of understanding you or not.”

Following this, the litigant agreed to continue his submissions in English, and the proceedings resumed accordingly. Ultimately, the Court referred the case to mediation.

Article 348 of the Constitution provides that all proceedings in the Supreme Court and High Courts must be conducted in English, unless otherwise provided by Parliament. It permits the use of Hindi or other regional languages in High Court proceedings, with the prior consent of the President, but this does not extend to the Supreme Court. As per Article 348 the authoritative texts of laws and judgments are required to be in English.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has dealt with the language barrier. In 2022, when a litigant attempted to make submissions in Hindi, a bench of Justice KM Joseph and Justice Hrishikesh Roy similarly reminded him that the language of the Supreme Court is English. In that case, a lawyer was appointed to represent the litigant and assist him with his submissions in the appropriate language.

Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud recently advocated conducting legal education and proceedings in regional languages to make the legal system more accessible. He highlighted the potential of lawyers presenting cases in languages they are comfortable with and suggested that local languages could play a significant role in enhancing justice delivery in the country.

The Supreme Court in January 2023 launched the plan to translate Supreme Court Judgments into regional languages with the help of Artificial Intelligence. The 4 languages in which translation is made available are - Hindi, Gujarati, Odia and Tamil.

Last year, then Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju advocated for Indian languages to be used in constitutional courts across the country.

Case no. – SLP(Crl.) No. 10565/2024