Speaking at the closing session of the ‘India’s Progressive Path in the Administration of Criminal Justice System’ conference at Vellore Institute of Technology, Kelambakkam, Sathasivam praised the new legislation but expressed difficulty in pronouncing the names. He mentioned his intention to request the union minister to address this issue.
CHENNAI: On Sunday (23rd June): Former Chief Justice of India and former Kerala Governor K Sathasivam, along with Dr N S Santhosh Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University, Chennai, urged the union government to keep the English nomenclature for the new criminal laws set to take effect from July 1.
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Speaking at the closing session of the ‘India’s Progressive Path in the Administration of Criminal Justice System’ conference at Vellore Institute of Technology, Kelambakkam, Sathasivam praised the new legislation but expressed difficulty in pronouncing the names. He mentioned his intention to request the union minister to address this issue.
Recently, the Kerala High Court agreed to hear a public interest litigation and issued a notice to the Central government, challenging the Hindi/Sanskrit titles of the three new criminal laws, arguing that the naming violated Article 348 of the Constitution.
Article 348 mandates that all Acts, Bills, Notifications, and enactments be in English. Sathasivam refrained from further commenting on the matter due to its upcoming hearing on July 26 in the Kerala court but noted significant changes in the legislation, such as revised punishments for certain crimes and improvements in jurisdiction, case backlog, human resources, and investigations.
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Santhosh Kumar, making an earnest appeal as a South Indian, emphasized that not everyone in the country is familiar with Sanskrit, making the current Sanskrit nomenclature of the legislation challenging for many.
Recently, Chief Minister MK Stalin urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to withhold the three pieces of legislation until the views of all state governments and stakeholders were considered, highlighting the issue with their Sanskrit names as a violation of Article 348.
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Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and L Murugan explained the key features of the new legislation at the conference. Justice Asish Jitendra Desai, Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court; Justice Alok Aradhe, Chief Justice of Telangana; and Justice R Mahadevan, Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, also attended the conference.
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