In 2002, police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra tried to make a watertight case against some Muslim youth, alleging that they were members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
In an affidavit, Solapur police submitted before the court that the men had documents which spoke of animosity and violence and could spread hatred. The evidence they produced was a verse of the poet Mirza Ghalib, which the police claimed was dangerous.
The verse read:
Mauje khoon ser se guzer hi kiyon na jay,
Aastane yaar se uth jaein kaya!
(Even if a wave of blood were to pass over my head,
It is not as if I would get up from the beloved’s doorsill)
But Maharashtra state police concluded that these lines spoke of bloodshed and animosity.
Young boys between the age of 18 and 22 were arrested in this case. Later on, some more charges were slapped on them.
“It went on for some time. Boys were arrested and sent to jails all over India. Some of them remained in jail for more than five-seven years before they were granted bail,” said Shaikh Samiullah, a social activist who has been fighting for justice for Muslim men in the state who were victimized and arrested on false charges.
But these are not isolated cases.
Late Kashmiri professor Syed Abdur Rehman Geelani was even convicted and sent to gallows by the trial court just because of an incorrect translation.
Police got the wrong translation of a telephonic conversation that Gilani had with his brother, just hours after the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001.
Geelani’s brother had called him asking for a copy of the syllabus and a prospectus to be sent to Kashmir. The conversation took place while Geelani was on a bus. He repeatedly told his brother not to waste money by making such phone calls during the daytime when the call rates are high. In 2001, there were no flat call rates and making a long-distance call during daytime could burn holes in the pocket.
In the same conversation which took place in Kashmiri, Geelani’s brother mentioned the Parliament attack and said, “Dilli me aaj kya ho gaya?” (What happened in Delhi today?)
To which the professor replied, “Cha, yeah zaroori?” (Was it necessary?).
But Delhi police, in their translation submitted in the court interpreted the lines as, “Dilli me aaj apne kya kar diya?” (What did you do in Delhi today?)
Geelani’s reply to his brother was translated as, “yeah cha zaroori.” (This was important).
Professor Geelani was sentenced to death by a lower court in Delhi over this small exchange being twisted and misrepresented by police.
It was later, when Kashmiri film-maker Sanjay Kak and veteran Kashmiri pandit and a trade unionist Sampat Prakash appeared before the Supreme Court of India to testify that the translation and the interpretation of the conversation produced by the police was incorrect, that Gilani was acquitted in the case.
Ironically, ignoring several thousand learned and well-read Kashmiris in and around Delhi, the police got this conversation between the Geelani brothers translated from Rashid, a vegetable vendor from Azadpur Fruit and Vegetable Market in Delhi.
Rashid, who had attended school till grade six and was not even well versed in Hindi, was picked up by the police for this job. Later, when he was produced before the court, he said that he had translated the intercepted conversation for the Special Branch after hearing the tape two to four times. If Kak and Prakash had not come forward to testify, Geelani would have been dead years ago.
“These cases are clear examples of evident misinterpretations and often innocents end up paying a heavy price for it,” Ashok Agarwal, a senior lawyer based in New Delhi told TFT.
Former chairman of the Delhi Minority Commission Zafarul Islam Khan, who has translated several books and articles from English, Urdu and Arabic, also acknowledges that a good translation is very rare in India.
“A translator needs to be proficient in both the languages; the one he is translating from and the one he is translating to,” he said.
Khan, who is also the editor of the Milli Gazette, a fortnightly publication focusing on Muslim issues in India, added that in case of translation of legal documents, such as in the case of Geelani, any mistake could prove to be lethal.
While some Indian universities run a certificate course in translation, these are considered very average.
“My experience is that translators are extremely poor in both the languages. There is no special training or courses for imparting translation skills. Inexperienced people do it to earn a living without mastering the art or enjoying it,” he added.
In India, the Parliament Secretariat employs the largest number of translators. The two houses together have over 150 translators and interpreters who are considered the best in the country.
Besides the routine translation of government documents in English and Hindi, this trained force translates the parliamentary debates live while the house is in session. The Parliament has translators available in 22 languages that are recognized as schedule languages by the Indian Constitution.
Even these translators undergo rigorous training before they qualify to be interpreters of the Parliamentary debates.
“Live translations have no retake. What an interpreter translates is being heard live by the members of the house, the other officials taking down notes and the journalists sitting in the galleries, listing to the house proceedings. There is no scope for error at all,” explained an officer of the Editorial Service.
Translators have always been privy to several meetings, including secret briefings. While they might have missed notes, or might have got their interpretation wrong at the time, but never has a translator being accused of leaking any piece of information.
This is one community that has stood by its oath and the code of ethics adopted by the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) that stipulates that interpreters are “bound by the strictest secrecy.”
In an affidavit, Solapur police submitted before the court that the men had documents which spoke of animosity and violence and could spread hatred. The evidence they produced was a verse of the poet Mirza Ghalib, which the police claimed was dangerous.
The verse read:
Mauje khoon ser se guzer hi kiyon na jay,
Aastane yaar se uth jaein kaya!
(Even if a wave of blood were to pass over my head,
It is not as if I would get up from the beloved’s doorsill)
But Maharashtra state police concluded that these lines spoke of bloodshed and animosity.
Young boys between the age of 18 and 22 were arrested in this case. Later on, some more charges were slapped on them.
“It went on for some time. Boys were arrested and sent to jails all over India. Some of them remained in jail for more than five-seven years before they were granted bail,” said Shaikh Samiullah, a social activist who has been fighting for justice for Muslim men in the state who were victimized and arrested on false charges.
But these are not isolated cases.
Late Kashmiri professor Syed Abdur Rehman Geelani was even convicted and sent to gallows by the trial court just because of an incorrect translation.
Police got the wrong translation of a telephonic conversation that Gilani had with his brother, just hours after the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001.
Geelani’s brother had called him asking for a copy of the syllabus and a prospectus to be sent to Kashmir. The conversation took place while Geelani was on a bus. He repeatedly told his brother not to waste money by making such phone calls during the daytime when the call rates are high. In 2001, there were no flat call rates and making a long-distance call during daytime could burn holes in the pocket.
In the same conversation which took place in Kashmiri, Geelani’s brother mentioned the Parliament attack and said, “Dilli me aaj kya ho gaya?” (What happened in Delhi today?)
To which the professor replied, “Cha, yeah zaroori?” (Was it necessary?).
But Delhi police, in their translation submitted in the court interpreted the lines as, “Dilli me aaj apne kya kar diya?” (What did you do in Delhi today?)
Geelani’s reply to his brother was translated as, “yeah cha zaroori.” (This was important).
Professor Geelani was sentenced to death by a lower court in Delhi over this small exchange being twisted and misrepresented by police.
It was later, when Kashmiri film-maker Sanjay Kak and veteran Kashmiri pandit and a trade unionist Sampat Prakash appeared before the Supreme Court of India to testify that the translation and the interpretation of the conversation produced by the police was incorrect, that Gilani was acquitted in the case.
Ironically, ignoring several thousand learned and well-read Kashmiris in and around Delhi, the police got this conversation between the Geelani brothers translated from Rashid, a vegetable vendor from Azadpur Fruit and Vegetable Market in Delhi.
Rashid, who had attended school till grade six and was not even well versed in Hindi, was picked up by the police for this job. Later, when he was produced before the court, he said that he had translated the intercepted conversation for the Special Branch after hearing the tape two to four times. If Kak and Prakash had not come forward to testify, Geelani would have been dead years ago.
“These cases are clear examples of evident misinterpretations and often innocents end up paying a heavy price for it,” Ashok Agarwal, a senior lawyer based in New Delhi told TFT.
Former chairman of the Delhi Minority Commission Zafarul Islam Khan, who has translated several books and articles from English, Urdu and Arabic, also acknowledges that a good translation is very rare in India.
“A translator needs to be proficient in both the languages; the one he is translating from and the one he is translating to,” he said.
In India, the Parliament Secretariat employs the largest number of translators. The two houses together have over 150 translators and interpreters who are considered the best in the country
Khan, who is also the editor of the Milli Gazette, a fortnightly publication focusing on Muslim issues in India, added that in case of translation of legal documents, such as in the case of Geelani, any mistake could prove to be lethal.
While some Indian universities run a certificate course in translation, these are considered very average.
“My experience is that translators are extremely poor in both the languages. There is no special training or courses for imparting translation skills. Inexperienced people do it to earn a living without mastering the art or enjoying it,” he added.
In India, the Parliament Secretariat employs the largest number of translators. The two houses together have over 150 translators and interpreters who are considered the best in the country.
Besides the routine translation of government documents in English and Hindi, this trained force translates the parliamentary debates live while the house is in session. The Parliament has translators available in 22 languages that are recognized as schedule languages by the Indian Constitution.
Even these translators undergo rigorous training before they qualify to be interpreters of the Parliamentary debates.
“Live translations have no retake. What an interpreter translates is being heard live by the members of the house, the other officials taking down notes and the journalists sitting in the galleries, listing to the house proceedings. There is no scope for error at all,” explained an officer of the Editorial Service.
Translators have always been privy to several meetings, including secret briefings. While they might have missed notes, or might have got their interpretation wrong at the time, but never has a translator being accused of leaking any piece of information.
This is one community that has stood by its oath and the code of ethics adopted by the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) that stipulates that interpreters are “bound by the strictest secrecy.”