Written by: Manjari Agrawal & Kritika Priya , 5th Year BBA L.LB (HONS.) ,Galgotias University
The word ‘Linguistic’ derived from Latin word Lingua which means Tongue and istics which means knowledge. The word ‘Diversity’ derived from the Latin word diversus which means various. So, The Linguistic Diversity collectively called Various Language or Different language. Linguistic Diversity means that different people can speak and communicate in different languages with each other.
India is the most diverse nation among others in various aspects like cultural, religion etc. It is also diverse in language as there are various regional language used in different regions in India. As per 2011 census of India, there were 121 languages which is largely spoken in India with 1599 other languages[1].
LEGAL RECOGNITION OF LANGUAGE IN INDIA
The Constitution of India[2]:
The constitution of India deals with various provisions that are related to the languages, which are as follows:-
India is one of the country which is famous for linguistic homogeneity. Language was one of the debatable topic in India. There are various provisions in Indian constitution which deals with the language. There are total 22 languages which are given the official status in India as per schedule eight of Indian constitution.
Under part three of the constitution of India deals with fundamental right in which Article 29 and 30 is about protection of minorities and educational rights. It confers right to conserve the language of the minorities.
Accordance with the provision of Article 21 of the Constitution of India which deals with protection of life with personal liberty. so, under this provision, the litigant has the right to speak in any of the languages which he/she understands easily before the magistrate.
The seventeenth part of the Indian constitution deals with Official Language. Article 343 & Article 344 talks about official language of the union & Commission and parliamentary committee respectively.
Accordance with the provision of Article 343 of the Constitution of India, Hindi in Devanagari script was the official language of the union. English shall be continued to be used as official language to the country after 15 years of the commencement of the constitution of India as prior to the commencement of the constitution of India, English was in use. Parliament may by law recognize English or the Devanagari as an official language after the completion of such 15 years.
Article 344 of the constitution of India clearly states that the president shall appoint a language commission, which gives recommendation to the president regarding use of language for official purpose of the Union:-
a) Progressive use of Hindi language;
b) Restrictions on the use of Hindi language;
c) Language to be used for any of the purposes specified in Article 348 of the Constitution of India;
d) Language to be used for communication between union and state;
e) Numerals to be used for one or more specified purpose
Official Languages Act, 1963 [3]
Under this act, with the approval of the president, the governor of the state has power to authorize the use of Hindi or any other official language of the state other than English, in any judgement, decree or order which is passed by the high court of that state.
It is also provided in the act that translation of judgement, decree, or order passed in such language shall be translated into English.
Section 137 of the code of civil procedure, 1908 regulates the language of the subordinate court. As per this section the language used at the beginning of this code will be the language of the court subordinate to high court unless the state government directs.
As per section 137 and section 9 of C.P.C, 1908 the evidence should be recorded in the language of the court. It is the discretion of such court either to take evidence in English or not when all parties to the claim wish to have evidence in English.
The Code Of Criminal Procedure, 1973[5]
As per the provisions of the CrPC, 1973 judgement and its contents shall be in the language of the court.
Section 272 of this code clearly mentioned that language of court – for the purpose of this code, Language is determined by the state government of each court within the state except High court.
Section 277 of this code states that if witness gives the evidence in the language of the court then that should be written in such language. But, if witness gives evidence in any other language and such language is not practicable in the respective court then the translation of such language shall be done in the language of the court which is duly signed by Magistrate or presiding judge of such court and then become the part of record.
CASE LAW
Madhu Limaye V. Ved Murti [6]
In this case, one of the parties to the suit argued in Hindi before the Supreme Court, which was to be objected by another parties that they was not able to understand him. Such party denied to make arguments in English and also denied for written submission of such arguments in English.
Held: - the decision was given by the Supreme Court that the proceedings of the Supreme Court shall be in English as per Article 348 of Indian Constitution. So, the court cancelled the intervention of the party.
CONCLUSION
Diversity in culture and language is the beauty of India. It is evident from ancient times. Now a days, there is an extinction of various languages because regional languages are rarely used and more priority is given to the common language or official language. It should be protected and for this the government should take reasonable steps like to promote cultural activities at societal level. To declare sole language an official language is debatable topic in India as adoption of Hindi as sole language for the institution argued that it take away political power from non-Hindi and which led to new kind of colonialism called Hindu-Imperialism so, for redistributing power of official language status to English language is given in India
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[1] https://censusindia.gov.in/census.website/ (Last visited May 25, 2023)
[2] INDIA CONST. art. 29, 30, 21,343, 344 & 348
[3] Official Language Act, 1963, No. 19 ,Acts of Parliament ,1963 (India)
[4] The Code of Civil Procedure , 1908, , No. 5, Acts of Parliament, 1908 (India)
[5] The Code of Criminal Procedure,1973, No. 2, Acts of Parliament, 1973 (India)
[6] Madhu Limaye v. Ved Murti , (1970) 3 SCC 378
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