Recently, the Himachal Pradesh High Court took up an interesting question regarding the translation of Urdu documents into Hindi in a civil dispute, highlighting the importance of linguistic accessibility and procedural fairness in judicial proceedings.
The case arose from a dispute where the plaintiffs had filed Urdu documents Exhibits along with their Hindi translations before the Trial Court. However, since the translator had passed away before his examination, the translations remained unproved. The Appellate Court had dismissed the plaintiffs’ plea under Section 151 of the CPC to allow proof of the Hindi versions, holding that it amounted to an attempt to lead additional evidence.
Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, however, disagreed. Observing that the appellate court “misdirected itself” by construing the plea under Order XVIII Rule 17 CPC, the Court held that the petitioners’ request was merely to bring translated copies of documents already exhibited. The judge noted that “Appellate Court erred in not appreciating that the prayer simply was to produce on record the translated copies” and that justice would have been better served by allowing it.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Chandreshwar Bhuthnath Devasthan v. Baboy Matiram Varenkar, Justice Goel reiterated that when an original document is already exhibited, filing a translated version does not constitute “additional evidence.” He accordingly quashed the 2023 order and directed the Appellate Court to accept the translations, share them with the respondent, and resolve any discrepancies.
Both parties have been directed to appear before the Appellate Court on October 14, 2025, with the matter to be decided preferably by March 31, 2026.
Case Title: Smt. Amar Kaur and others versus Sh. Rishib Kumar
Case No.: CMPMO No. 356 of 2023
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel
Counsel for the Petitioner: Sr. Adv. G.D. Verma with Adv. Sumit Sharma
Counsel for the Respondent: Sr. Adv. Lovneesh Kanwar with Adv. Tek Chand
Read Order @Latestlaws.com
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