New Delhi: A Delhi court has directed the metropolitan magistrate to record their testimony in the language while setting aside the latter's order dismissing a plea by the accused for cross-examination in Hindi.
The Patiala House Court, while hearing a review petition, made an observation that if the plaintiff requests to record the proceedings in Hindi, then all the courts in the national capital are bound to record the proceedings in the same language.
Principal District and Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma said that "refusal of a request for recording evidence in Hindi is a violation of Delhi High Court's observation under Section 272 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and Rule 1 (b) (i)".
"It is not understandable as to what logistical problem the metropolitan magistrate is talking about. The statement of the witness can be recorded by the stenographer on the computer desktop which has Hindi fonts, and if the court stenographer is not proficient in typing in Hindi, a requisition for a Hindi typist can be made," the court said.
It added that if a Hindi typist is unavailable, the metropolitan magistrate shall himself or through court staff "get the statement of the witness recorded in Hindi". On May 30, an application was made on behalf of the plaintiff requesting to record the statements during cross-examination in Hindi. But the request was rejected by the Metropolitan Magistrate, Manu Shri, referring to logistical deficiencies.
