Supreme Court.
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The Supreme Court has said that there is no provision in the Criminal Procedure Code mandating the investigating agencies to provide a copy of charge sheet to accused in a language fixed by the state government for the functioning of the trial court.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Rajesh Bindal also said filing of the charge sheet in the language other than the court language was not illegal and no accused can seek default bail on the ground that charge sheet though filed within the time was in the language that he does not understand.
The court's judgement came while allowing an appeal by the CBI against the Madhya Pradesh High Court's order to provide a copy of its charge sheet to two Vyapam scam accused in Hindi since it was the official language of the criminal courts in the state.
The CBI said the accused were highly educated and knew English well. It further said charge sheets in Vyapam scam cases are very bulky and their translation into Hindi is a very time-consuming and costly process.
The bench said an accused may ask for supplying translated version of the charge sheet if he is unable to understand the language.
However, if the accused is led by an advocate who is conversant with the language of the charge sheet, there will not be any requirement of furnishing translations.
"The accused must get a fair opportunity to defend himself. He must know and understand the material against him in the charge sheet. That is the essence of Article 21 of the Constitution. With the availability of various software and Artificial Intelligence tools for making translations, providing translations will not be that difficult now," the bench said.
The court, however, added a charge sheet filed within the stipulated period in a language other than the language of the court or the language which the accused does not understand, is not illegal and no one can claim a default bail on that ground.
It also pointed out there are central agencies like the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), etc which investigate serious offences or offences having wide ramifications. Obviously, such central agencies, in every case will not be in a position to file the final report in the language of the concerned court as determined by Section 272 of CrPC, the bench added.
The court also noted as per Section 272 of CrPC, the respective state government may determine what shall be, the language of each court within the state other than the High Court.
However, the bench said, "The power under Section 272 CrPC is not a power to decide which language shall be used by the investigating agencies or the police for the purposes of maintaining the record of the investigation."