Courts in Delhi duty-bound to record evidence, witness statement in Hindi upon request: Patiala House court

A Delhi court recently held that courts in the national capital are duty-bound to record evidence or any other proceedings in Hindi whenever such a request is made [Gulshan Pahuja vs. State]. .Principal District & Sessions Judge at Patiala House Court, Dharmesh Sharma, held that declining such a request for recording evidence in Hindi would be in violation of Section 272 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and Rule 1(b)(i) of the Delhi High Court Rules.Section 272 of the CrPC stipulates that the State government may determine what shall be the language of a court.The Rule 1(b)(i) of the Delhi High Court Rules, Vol. I provides that Hindi in Devnagri script shall be the language of the courts subordinate to the Delhi High Court."In view of the categorical position of law vide Section 272 Cr.PC read with Delhi High Court Rules, the Courts are duty bound to record the evidence or any other proceedings in Hindi, whenever a request is made in this regard," the Court said.The Court, therefore, set aside an order passed by Metropolitan Magistrate Manu Shree who had rejected the plea for recording evidence in Hindi.Regarding the reasoning given by the Metropolitan Magistrate for denying relief to the petitioner earlier, the Sessions Judge said,"It is not understandable as to what logistical problem the Ld. MM is speaking about. The statement of the witnesses can be recorded on the computer desktop, which has Hindi Font by the Stenographer, and if the Court Stenographer is not proficient in typing in Hindi, a requisition for a Hindi Typist can be made.".By way of background, the revisionist along with other co-accused was facing trial for committing offences under Sections 92 (Obstructing or annoying passengers in the street) and 97 (Penalties for offences under sections 80 to 96) of the Delhi Police Act.On May 30, 2022, an application was moved by the revisionist requesting that questions asked during the cross-examination of the witnesses be asked in Hindi and answers to the same be also written down in Hindi.However, the said request was declined by the Metropolitan Magistrate who held that due to logistical shortcomings, the application could not be allowed.Following this, the present revision petition was filed.The Sessions Judge set aside the Magistrate's order on the ground that the order was in "palpable contravention" to the Delhi High Court Rules and Section 272 of the CrPC. Regarding the reasoning given by the Metropolitan Magistrate for denying relief to the petitioner earlier, the Sessions Judge said,"It is not understandable as to what logistical problem the Ld. MM is speaking about. The statement of the witnesses can be recorded on the computer desktop, which has Hindi Font by the Stenographer, and if the Court Stenographer is not proficient in typing in Hindi, a requisition for a Hindi Typist can be made.".Advocates Manish Jain, Vikas Kumar Verma, Shanky Jain and Mohit Kumar appeared for the applicant.Additional Public Prosecutor Ravinder Khandelwal appeared for the State..[Read order].Centre cannot expect all to know Hindi or English, environmental notifications should be issued in vernacular languages: Madras High Court