Deposition, Operative Order and False Friends: Translating in the Gujarat Courts
A Judicial Magistrate First Class at Navsari needs a Gujarati translation of an English order and an English translation of a Gujarati deposition, and a junior has been asked to prepare both. The material portion of the complainant Maganbhai's deposition reads: 'મારી ઉંમર ૪૨ વર્ષ છે અને હું ખેતી કરું છું. બનાવની સાંજે આશરે સાત વાગ્યે હું ઘરે પાછો ફર્યો, ત્યારે મારી પત્નીએ જણાવ્યું કે પ્રતિવાદી રમેશભાઈ અને તેમના બે ભાઈઓએ વાડાના દરવાજા પર ધક્કો મારીને જમીનના હિસ્સા અંગે ધમકી આપી હતી. બીજા દિવસે સવારે મેં ગામના પટેલને જાણ કરી. ફરિયાદમાંની વિગતો હું વાંચી શકતો નથી, કારણ કે મેં ચાર ધોરણ સુધી અભ્યાસ કર્યો છે; ફરિયાદ મને વંચાવીને સમજાવવામાં આવી હતી. ઉલટતપાસમાં મેં કબૂલ કર્યું કે જમીનના હિસ્સા અંગે મારો દીવાની દાવો ચાલી રહ્યો છે.' The operative portion to be put into Gujarati reads: 'The application filed by the defendant under Order VII Rule 11 CPC is rejected. The defendant is permitted to file the written statement within four weeks, subject to payment of costs of Rs. 2,000. The interim relief granted earlier shall continue till the next date of hearing.' The junior's drafts render 'દાવો ફગાવી દેવામાં આવ્યો' as 'the suit was instituted', 'ઉલટતપાસ' as 're-examination', and 'જામીન' as 'warrant'.
1. Prepare the English translation of the deposition as it should appear on the record, and identify the choices that matter.
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Translation: 'My age is 42 years and I am engaged in agriculture. On the evening of the incident at about seven o'clock, when I returned home, my wife told me that the defendant Rameshbhai and his two brothers had pushed open the gate of the compound and had threatened us in connection with the share in the land. The next morning I informed the Patel of the village. I cannot read the particulars in the complaint, because I have studied only up to the fourth standard; the complaint was read over and explained to me. In cross-examination I admitted that a civil suit concerning the share in the land is pending between me and the defendant.'
Choices that matter: retain the first-person past tense of a deposition, and do not convert it into reported speech with 'he stated'. Render વાડાના દરવાજા પર ધક્કો મારીને as pushing the gate of the compound, not 'knocking'. ધમકી આપી is a threat, not an assault, and must not be upgraded. ગામના પટેલ is the village headman, best given as 'Patel (village headman)' at first occurrence. દીવાની દાવો is a civil suit, not a 'divani' case. Finally, the witness's inability to read is substantive, not incidental: it explains why the complaint was read over to him, and it may be tested in cross-examination.
2. Put the operative portion of the order into Gujarati and explain the traps a translator must avoid.
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Suggested rendering: 'પ્રતિવાદીએ ઓર્ડર VII રૂલ ૧૧ હેઠળ દાખલ કરેલી અરજી ફગાવી દેવામાં આવે છે. પ્રતિવાદીને ચાર અઠવાડિયાની અંદર લેખિત જવાબ દાખલ કરવાની પરવાનગી આપવામાં આવે છે, જે રૂ. ૨,૦૦૦ ના ખર્ચની ચુકવણીને આધીન રહેશે. અગાઉ આપવામાં આવેલ વચગાળાની રાહત આગામી સુનાવણીના દિવસ સુધી ચાલુ રહેશે.'
Traps: 'subject to payment of costs' is a condition, so આધીન, not વિશે. 'shall continue' is mandatory and continuing, so ચાલુ રહેશે, never ચાલુ રહી શકે છે, which converts a command into a discretion. 'is rejected' in an operative order is conventionally rendered in the present passive ફગાવી દેવામાં આવે છે, the form used in Gujarat orders, rather than a future tense. 'Order VII Rule 11' should keep the numerals and the English name of the provision on first use, with a Gujarati gloss in brackets, because a paraphrase may point to the wrong provision. 'Interim relief' is વચગાળાની રાહત; રાહત alone may be read as final relief. Keep the amount in Gujarati numerals and do not silently convert four weeks into one month.
3. Correct the junior's three renderings and explain why each error is material rather than stylistic.
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(i) દાવો ફગાવી દેવામાં આવ્યો means 'the suit was dismissed', not 'the suit was instituted'. For institution the correct rendering is દાવો દાખલ કરવામાં આવ્યો, or દાવો થયો. The error reverses the outcome of the litigation and, in a judgment or an appellate record, would misstate the entire history; it is a material error of substance.
(ii) ઉલટતપાસ is cross-examination, the examination by the adverse party after examination-in-chief. 'Re-examination' is the examination by the party who called the witness, after cross-examination, and is પુનઃપરીક્ષા or ફરી પરીક્ષા. Confusing the two misdescribes who asked the question and inverts the sequence of trial, which matters when testing an admission.
(iii) જામીન is bail or surety, not warrant; a warrant is વોરંટ or ધરપકડ વોરંટ. Rendering 'released on જામીન' as 'released on warrant' states the opposite of what happened.
Add two traps to watch: ચુકાદો is a judgment, હુકમનામું a decree and આદેશ an order; and 'set aside' is રદ કરવું, not બાજુમાં મૂકવું, while 'stay' is સ્થગિત કરવું.