Babu’s English holds sway over Indian judiciary

When Lord Macaulay fervently pleaded for the cause of English education in India in the 1830s, to transform Indians into” Brown Sahibs” English in every way except in the skin color, he meant that they should be taught Queen’s English and not the English used by the judges in the higher Indian courts.

Here is an excerpt from the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Jayalalithaa-Sasikala Disproportionate Assets case which gives a taste of the kind of English used by the Indian judiciary, which the British used to mock at as “Babu’s English” – stilted, pompous and ungainly.