Petition assailing trial court judgement in English dismissed

The Madras High Court today dismissed a petition seeking to declare as void a judgement written in English by a lower court convicting 16 persons of various offences, including murder, and sentencing them to varying terms of imprisonments.
A division bench, comprising Justice R. Sudhakar and Justice P.N.Prakash, rejected the habeas corpus petition by one Sugania who also sought to sought free the 16 convicts.
"We cannot hold that just because the Judicial Officer has translated her thought process into English and written the judgment, her entire judgment is void and the detention of the prisoners is illegal," the bench said.

The court said the entire trial had been conducted in Tamil language by the I Additional District and Sessions Judge, Thiruvallur, who had convicted the accused on December 21, 2015 and awarded jail terms.
Counsel for the petitioner contended that when the judgment had been delivered in English which was not known to the accused, the same would be void. Therefore, their further detention pursuant to such a judgment was illegal.
Rejecting the argument, the bench said the accused were quite aware of the pronouncement of the judgment.
When the Judge announced pronouncement of the judgment, the counsel for the accused requested its postponement on various grounds.

"In fact, we find that the accused have been putting spokes and preventing the Judge from proceeding with the pronouncement of the judgment," the bench said.