NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday clarified 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 DN 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 use of 383 Urdu or Persian words while registering FIRs.
The petitioner, Naima Pasha, had claimed 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.
The bench said it will clarify its August 7 order and disposed of the petition. The court said,"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."
In the other petition by a lawyer, the high court had on November 25 called for 100 FIR copies to ascertain whether the circular of November 20 was being adhered to.