SHILLONG, May 11: The Bharatiya Bhasha Abhiyan of Northeast India on Sunday organised a one-day national webinar during which the attendees advocated for the use of local languages as a means of communication in court proceedings.
It may be mentioned that Article 348(I) of the Constitution rules that proceedings in high courts and the Supreme Court should be held in English language.
According to a statement, the webinar was organised in association with Shiksha Sanskriti Uttan Nyas North-East region.
During the webinar, Gauhati High Court Advocate Deepika Kalita, who was the chief guest, said, “I believe that vernacular languages should be practised in courts; only then we can expect true justice in the judicial system because language is the only medium in which we can express our feelings among others.”
Suggesting that the state governments should empower state language in the court, she lamented that people from rural areas are subjected to difficulties due to this.
Secretary, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, Atul Bhai Kothari, during the webinar, suggested that the states should themselves take the initiative to implement their official language in the courts.
“I want to say this with great poise that unless a person gets justice in his language, there is an injustice to him,” Kothari said, adding, “So the Indian Language Campaign was formed by the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas”.
Kameshwar Nath Mishra, on the other hand, said that people should get justice in their “own local language”.
