PIL seeks to remove Hindi, Sanskrit names of new criminal laws

New Delhi: A public interest litigation (PIL) is filed in the Madras high court seeking to remove the Hindi and Sanskrit names given to the three new criminal laws.

Advocate B. Ramkumar Adityan of Thoothukudi said that Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 should be renamed in English, The Wire reported citing The Hindu.

The three laws came into force on Monday replacing the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act.

The PIL by B. Ramkumar Adityan is expected to be listed for admission before the first Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq.

The petitioner also sought to restrain the Union Home Ministry from implementing the laws until his plea for renaming them in English is disposed.

Petitioner Adityan said that among the country’s 28 states and eight Union Territories only nine states and two Union Territories have Hindi as their official language, with only around 43.63 per cent population speaking the language while the rest communicating in other languages.

Nevertheless only around 3.93 lakh people in Tamil Nadu could speak Hindi as per the 2011 census, the Centre named three criminal laws in Hindi and Sanskrit, The Hindi reported as Adityan stating.

Naming the laws in Hindi and Sanskrit, according to Adityan, amounted to the violation of the rights of lawyers, law teachers, judicial officers and litigants, reported The Hindu.

Adityan said that official language of Supreme Court and most High Courts being English, the naming of three laws in Hindi would cause difficulties for non-Hindi speakers.