A prominent judge of the Madras High Court, Justice N Anand Venkatesh has on Tuesday - January 24 revealed that he doesn't know Hindi and that he will call the criminal laws in their original names, instead of using the new names that were implemented by the centre-ruling BJP regime. His statement has come amidst a hearing and it has been going viral on social media. 

During a hearing on Tuesday, Justice Anand Venkatesh said that he would continue to refer to the criminal laws by their original names instead of using their new names in Hindi. By citing that he doesn't know Hindi, the justice said that he would refer to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act by their original names. 

His remark has come in the wake of a difficulty that he and the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) had, during the hearing, that the latter referred to the Hindi-named laws as 'new acts'. According to a report published by The News Minute, APP Damodaran had wished to make a reference to the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which would replace the CrPC, and asked Justice Anand Venkatesh to refer to the new Act. 

However, when the justice asked Damodaran to name the new act, the latter found it difficult to pronounce the Hindi name, after which Justice Anand Venkatesh said, "So, Damodaran has cleverly chosen to simply refer to it as the new Act." After making this observation, the Justice said that he will be using the original names of the criminal laws to refer to them as he doesn't know Hindi. 

It is pertinent to note that three criminal laws were passed in the Parliament last year. The new names of the criminal laws are - Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (IPC), Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (CrPC), and Bharatiya Sakshya Sanhita (Indian Evidence Act). As the President has given assent to the new names in December 2023, the original ones are nearing their end. The Union Home Ministry has asserted that the dates from which these Acts will take effect will be notified.