Language of Courts in North and East

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
Fear of Police, Under
a Culture of Bribery

Returning from church on my scooter with my wife on the pillion recently, I found the police and the army everywhere for the President’s visit. A policeman, an officer, stood at the middle of the Kandy Road-Kachcheri Nallur Road junction expecting us to go around him. I told him to stand to a side and he seemed a little taken aback even as my wife panicked in case he retaliated. That is my point. We fear the police and do not see them as our guardians. That police arrogance is because they are not our police but rather the police of the central government coming here to get rich through bribes.

In an ongoing matter, a policeman who is nice to us in court in a matter that has us trudging in and out over the years, asked us politely for Rs. 50,000 over some personal difficulties in collecting his vehicle after repairs, promising to speak inside and get the matter finished quickly. It was not clear if the money was for him or someone else. No point in complaining against the deniable.

In Jaffna, former Mayor V. Manivannan made a speech during the 2018 elections threatening to assault me because I had, as a member of the Election Commission then, filed complaints against his Tamil Congress for several election law violations. My complaint was on the direction of the Commission. I had to go to Jaffna to complain, and again to give his speech in five copies on CD. I trudged in and out of court and after a year discovered that the police, as the formal prosecutors, had not given the CDs to court. One day an Acting Magistrate ruled the evidence inadmissible as it would be unfair by Manivannan). What about fairness towards the people in elections as laws were violated? Acting Magistrates usually do no more than set the next date. The Attorney General called for the file to study it and has not returned it. So, no court date can be set. That is an old story of an essentially dead case that is alive on paper.

13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment to our Constitution is under intense discussion as we ask for its full implementation. What is being mentioned is police rights and land rights. Both are very important. Particularly, if the police are to look after our safety, we must feel safe from the police.

As I have noted before, when the Mullaitivu Judge ordered an enjoining order to be served on the Buddhist monks who were trying to take over a Hindu temple in Chemmalai, the police failed to serve the order. It was election time and I, through the Election Commission Chairman, warned the IGP that there was trouble brewing, trouble that could disrupt the elections. He promised to look into it and did nothing. I raised it again when he came to the Election Commission. He feigned to be taking serious notes but did nothing. These have a lot to do with the Tamil sense of well-being and safety.

There are then land powers so important to our safety and many other things supposedly implemented but not. The President is on strong grounds in implementing laws already on our books.

Rights on the Books

BJP’s Tamil Nadu Head Kuppusamy Annamalai promised in Jaffna that a new message would come soon on the 13th Amendment (LNW, Feb. 14, 2023). As he put it, development programmes in Northern and Central Provinces were near fruition. A new ferry service would commence between KKS and Karaikaal. Discussions have been initiated on a shipping service. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has asked our President to implement fully the 13th Amendment. “Expect new announcements soon”, he said. As a result, the Tamil people would see great improvements in their lives, he promised.

Jaishankar has correctly advised the TNA MPs not to neglect what we have while asking for more. The President has also endorsed this (LNW 14 Feb. 2023)

Language Rights in Court

These rights are incorrectly portrayed as rights already given. A few days ago (17 Feb. 2023) I was rather pleased to see the headline in The Island reading “TNA MP wants Jaffna court to send him summons in Tamil.” It was about Mr. S. Shritharan, TNA MP, who was served summons by the police written in the Sinhalese language to appear for an inquiry into demonstrations against President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to Jaffna. Shridharan wanted it in Tamil. The police then gave him their translation which he declined saying it must have the Court Registrar’s imprimatur. The shrewd MP was right. It was a police inquiry and not a judicial inquiry.

At long last, like our muscles that atrophy when unused, our unused language rights are being woken up from their state of slumber. Thank you, Mr. Shritharan!

Language Rights and Police Rights

These language rights also touch on our police rights when we fear the police. We in the North and East have got used to the police barking at us in Sinhalese expecting us to understand them. In Magistrate’s courts as I have seen, for simple offences by simple people like brewing liquor that need us only to say guilty and pay the fine, the police prosecute in Sinhalese, making a lawyer necessary.

Around 8 pm, Feb. 8, 2023 homeowners in Vali North protested against ten soldiers looting their houses slated for release. The soldiers threatened them. I hold the Power-of-Attorney for my brother-in-law’s house next to the Presidential Palace in Keerimalai. Thanking the President for doing the right thing by releasing these lands daring the army, I respectfully remind him of his duty to guard our house against looting.

Implemented Language Rights Denied in Court

I was served an enjoining order in Sinhalese by a District Court. It was all Greek to me, so I went to plead for a copy in Tamil. The judge ordered me to come with a lawyer and it was recorded despite my right to appear for myself. I asked for a copy of the enjoining order in Tamil if I am to file an answer. That is not recorded but it has been converted to an interim order without an opportunity for me to file answers. Judges control what goes into record. Since judges have the power to impose contempt sentences, I will say no more, except that there is urgent need for reform.

Lawyer friends with their heads in the clouds nonchalantly say we always have recourse to appeal. Oh yeah? To go to the Court of Appeal, paying Rs. 100,000 per appearance to Rs. 750,000 total (depending on the lawyer’s seniority)? And that is usually in cash to lawyers who rarely pay their taxes? The system stinks and is self-serving. This is where the President should begin tax reform.

The Murder of the Tamil Language in Court

Usually, when a language is used officially, it grows and flowers. We see that with Sinhalese. With Tamil too I have seen good Tamil from the NE Administrative Service Officers while there is also the unnecessary change in Tamil accepted in ordinary use – for example for “he conducted,” changing the word nadathinaar to nadaathinaar and the interjection of Sanskrit words when there are good Tamil words. Grammatical violence like “valuable things is there” (LNW of 9 Feb. 2023) or “from every divisions” is common even in newscasts and from pulpits.

That aside, I find the Tamil used by some judges to be horrid. In one short enjoining order by one of the most senior Judges, I see the wrong spelling of simple words with the wrong -nu and the wrong -la which alter the pronunciation of the preceding letter, thereby rendering the meaning of the word unclear.

Far worse is the violence done to Tamil grammar. The order prohibits entering certain premises by several unnamed students, workers, etc. who were not party to the case. WhatsApp is transcribed as Waadasap. By prohibiting the use of WhatsApp and email, the order disallows informing students that they cannot enter campus. Instead of saying “approaching buildings,” it says “approaching in buildings” as if it is not physically approaching but approaching for a favour like love.

In fact, if students living five km away from a prohibited building go to another place four km away, have they approached the buildings and therefore in violation? The order redundantly uses the sense of entering four times in a sentence making its meaning unclear. Instead of saying “Should you violate this order, you will be guilty of contempt” it says “Should this order be violated you will be guilty of contempt.” The order therefore gives the idea that if others enter the premises without knowing they are under such an order, the main respondent who was served the order can be thrown into jail.

A judicial order must have clarity and exactitude to be enforceable, but the judicial service seems incapable of writing in correct Tamil to make its orders have sense. Lawyers and Respondents in deference to judges obey based on what we think judges mean.

Conclusion

Every right in the Constitution is a right that must be given fully.