CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Vs. NAROTTAM DHAKAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Under Sec. 272 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short 'CrPC'), the State Government has the power to determine what shall be, for the purposes of CrPC, the language of each Court within a particular State other than the High Court. As provided in Sec. 6 of CrPC, there are various Courts in a State. The said Courts are the Courts of the Session, Judicial Magistrates of the First Class, Metropolitan Magistrates, Judicial Magistrates of the Second Class, and Executive Magistrates.

(3.) In these two appeals, we are dealing with charge sheets filed by the appellant Central Bureau of Investigation, in relation to offences arising out of the VYAPAM Scam in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Charge sheets have been filed for various offences under Ss. 419, 420, 468, 467 and 471 of IPC and under Ss. 3 and 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Examinations Act, 1937. The first respondent in Criminal Appeal arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 5525 of 2018 filed an application before the learned Judicial Magistrate seeking a direction to supply a Hindi translation of the charge sheet filed by the appellant in English language. The contention of the first respondent accused was that he was unable to understand the charge sheet filed in English language. The learned Judicial Magistrate held that the first respondent was an educated person, having knowledge of English. Learned Judge pointed out that the offence related to fraud in the examination. The allegation is that after the first respondent received admit card, some other person took the examination by impersonating him. The learned Magistrate observed that the vakalatnama filed by the first respondent was in English and the first respondent has also signed in English. It was further held that the Advocate representing the first respondent had sound knowledge of the English language. Therefore, the learned Magistrate proceeded to reject the prayer made by the first respondent. The order of the learned Magistrate has been confirmed by the Sessions Court in revision. However, the High Court interfered by holding that Hindi was the only language of the Criminal Courts in the State and therefore, the first respondent was entitled to seek a translation of the charge sheet into the language of the Court.