BHOPAL: Archaic Urdu/Persian words that can make FIRs in Madhya Pradesh a tonguetwisting read may soon be replaced with non-bewildering alternatives.
Madhya Pradesh Police headquarters has been tasked with coming up with a dictionary of such words for use in official records. It would take six months to complete the project, said a senior police officer at PHQ. “There would be around 400 such words in the glossary. However, it would remain in use as police lingo,” said the officer.
The project was initiated by DGP Vivek Johri owing to concerns raised by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the use of the Urdu word “Dastiyab” by an IPS officer at a high-level meet while referring to “recovery of evidence”.
Later, home minister Narottam Mishra too ordered to delete Urdu, Persian words from the MP police lexicon, and superintendents of police were told to drop using words from the Mughal era. Sources said MP PHQ has issued a letter asking senior police officers from various districts to submit suggestions within seven days about replacing non-Hindi words in the official lexicon.
‘Several Urdu words are tough to decipher’
The contents of an FIR — the way it’s often written in MP — can leave the complainant and accused in a linguistic tizzy due to the customary use of Urdu and Persian words.
In most cases, the FIR begins with the “bayan ajaane” (a compound Urdu-Persian word for statement, description or expression) of the “tehreer” (complainant) being taken. What follows is a bunch of such confusing words peppered all over.
Words like “daryaft” (revelation), “mustaba” (suspect), “waqua” (place of occurrence), and “insdaad jarayam” (prevention of crime) are easily found in FIR copies. In most cases, the last sentence of the FIR, which gives the details of initiation of the enquiry/case, uses many Urdu/Persian words which are difficult to decipher a police officer acknowledged.
In 2019, the Delhi high court had asked police to upload on its website a list of around 380 Urdu & Persian words and their meanings, whose use has been prohibited.
