Allahabad High Court Justice Dr. Gautam Chowdhary has called for a shift towards Indian languages in the judiciary, criticising the continued dominance of English in Indian courts nearly eight decades after independence.
Speaking in Hindi during his retirement address on Nov 6, just two days before his retirement, Justice Chowdhary said that the Indian judiciary had still not been able to free itself from the influence of colonial language.
He said that while India had achieved geographical and constitutional independence, a lingering sense of subservience to English continued to exist.
Justice Chowdhary clarified that his position did not stem from any animosity towards English or other languages. Instead, he compared English to a foreign maternal aunt, saying that while other languages deserved respect, Indian languages should not be neglected in favour of English.
He said it would be wonderful if the West Bengal High Court delivered judgments in Bengali and the Gujarat High Court delivered them in Gujarati, adding that regional languages could contribute to India's cultural diversity.
Challenging the preference for English in judgments
Justice Chowdhary also criticised the perception that judgments written in English are somehow more elegant or sophisticated, calling the assumption untrue. He said Indian languages were equally capable of expressing complex legal reasoning and delivering judgments.
Addressing judges who had moved from district courts to the High Court, he encouraged them to continue drafting judgments in Hindi if they had previously done so in their district courts.
He questioned why judges should feel compelled to switch to English after their elevation, when there was no inherent impediment to writing judgments in Hindi.
He also argued that using English as the dominant language of judicial proceedings makes courts less accessible to a large section of the population, particularly those who have encountered English primarily as a bureaucratic language they cannot comfortably understand.
Justice Chowdhary's argument was that legal reasoning should be expressed directly in the language in which judges are comfortable thinking and writing, rather than being forced through the additional filter of translation.
The debate over regional languages in courts
The use of regional languages in higher courts has remained a subject of debate. Critics of shifting away from English have raised concerns about ambiguity, inconsistent legal terminology and the possibility of different interpretations of complex legal expressions.
The constitutional framework does provide for the use of other languages under specific conditions.
Under Article 348(2) of the Constitution, the Governor, with the President's prior consent, can authorise the use of Hindi or another official state language in High Court proceedings. Section 7 of the Official Languages Act, 1963, also provides for authorised regional-language judgments, accompanied by an English translation. Hindi has been authorised for use in the High Courts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
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