New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday clarified that it had, in an earlier order, only directed that FIRs should be registered in simple language, and archaic Urdu and Persian words need to be avoided.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar said Urdu and Persian words of general use can be used by police while registering complaints.
The clarification by the court came while disposing of a plea which had challenged a police circular to its stations to stop the use of 383 Urdu or Persian words while registering FIRs.
The petitioner, Naima Pasha, claimed that the circular was issued "purportedly" on the court's August 7 direction to use simple words while lodging complaints, as some Urdu and Persian words of general use also figured in the list of 383 terms.
The bench said it will clarify its August 7 order and disposed of the petition.
"Archaic Urdu and Persian words ought not to be utilised (while lodging FIRs) and that is what we intended to convey by our order of August 7 in a seperate pending PIL before us. Urdu and Persian words of general use can be used," the court said.
In the other petition by a lawyer, Vishalakshi Goel, the high court had on November 25 called for 100 FIR copies to ascertain whether the circular of November 20 was being adhered to.
The police Wednesday submitted the FIR copies before the same bench which noted that the words prohibited in the circular were still being used while registering complaints.
The court also noted that some of the Urdu and Persian words, which figured in the FIRs, were not used in common parlance.
The bench, however, decided not to further monitor the issue raised by Goel in her plea, saying police was taking steps to avoid usage of archaic Urdu and Persian words as it has issued a circular and the FIRs also indicate decrease in use of such terms.
It dismissed Goel's plea and while doing so directed the police to ensure it follows its own circular of November 20.
The bench also asked the police to put up on its website the list of Urdu and Persian words, along with their meaning, whose use has been prohibited under the circular.
It also asked the agency to issue the circular and the high court's orders in the matter to all of its police stations and officers so that "it percolates down to everyone".
"You (police) should understand difficulty of those who do not understand such words," the bench said. The court also noted in its order that the list given in the circular was not exhaustive and the police may add or subtract words from it.
Comments
0 comment