Lucknow: Katl (murder), Ala-e-Katl (weapon of offence), Tarmeem (amendment), Mauka-e-Vardat (crime spot) and Gasht (patrol) are some of the many Urdu and Farsi words that one finds in police FIRs and legal parlance but not many know their exact meaning.
These are the words which have been used in legal writing for centuries, but now they are about to disappear from the 'dictionary' of Uttar Pradesh police. That is because preparations are being made to completely remove these Urdu and Persian words and use their Hindi alternatives in day-to-day legal paperwork in police stations.
These and many such words used in complaints, FIRs and charge sheets find their roots in the Mughal period. Sample this: It is often written in 'fard' (case diary) that the police were 'mamoor' (deployed) in 'gasht' (patrolling) when a 'mukhbir' (informer) came to know that one of the accused was seen at a location. 'Jaama talaashee' (frisking) of the accused was carried out and 'jism jaravaat paak-saaph nikle' (he was clean upon frisking).
Not just the general public even most of the police personnel do not even know the exact meaning of these words. In this context, three years ago, the Delhi High Court had given instructions to use simple Hindi words in place of these words, after which the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, taking a meaningful initiative, started translating all these Urdu, Persian and Arabic words into Hindi. The project is now in its final stages.
Commission Chairman Prof. Girishnath Jha said Urdu, Arabic and Persian words have been used in police and court terminology since the Mughal and British rule. He said his team is translating these words into Hindi and the change will reflect starting with the vocabulary of the police. He said that till now five thousand words are being translated into 10 other languages including Dogri, Santhali, and Dumka.
"Since India was ruled by Mughals and British, a flurry of such words crept into the official paperwork. It is unfortunate that the alternatives to these words were not included even after independence," said Prof Pawan Aggarwal who teaches Hindi at Lucknow University. He said it was a matter of great happiness that the present government was working to make this important change. Former DGP AK Jain echoed the same and said such words will be replaced by common alternatives understandable to everyone.
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