Rajasthan govt to replace Urdu terms in policing with Hindi words

Jaipur, Dec 18 (PTI) Mukadma (case), Mulzim (accused), Ilzam (allegation), Ittila (information), Chashmdeed (eyewitness) and many such terms may not be a part policing vocabulary in Rajasthan for long, with the BJP government in the state issuing direction to replace them with appropriate Hindi words.

The state police headquarters started the exercise following a letter by Minister of State (Home) Jawahar Singh Bedham, seeking information about such words and their Hindi alternatives.

Following the letter, state police chief U R Sahoo wrote to Additional Director General of Police (Training) last month to collect details of Urdu words and find out their appropriate replacements.

In the letter, he also instructed the officer to omit Urdu terms from training material, apprise all trainees of the new Hindi words, and disseminate information about the new Hindi words in the ongoing training programmes.

The DGP’s communication, dated November 11, also gives a reference of the letter from MoS Bedham.

ADG (Crime), meanwhile, also wrote to all police range inspector generals on December 10 in reference to the DGP’s letter. And then, letters were sent to all SPs of the state.

“In the follow-up of the instructions from the PHQ (Police headquarters), the SPs have been asked to collect information about the Urdu words and their Hindi replacements,” a police official said.

The Congress party criticised the government over the move, calling it uncalled for.

“Law and order situation is worsening in the state but the state government is not bothered about it. Rather than replacing words which have been there in practice for long, the government should take effective action to control crime and restore law and order,” he said.

There are several terms which are commonly used in police, like Mukadma (case), Mulzim (accused), Mustagis (complainant), Ilzam (allegation), Ittila (information), Chashmadeed (eye-witness), Jeb Tarashi (pick pocketing), Ferd Baramadgi (recovery memo) among others.

They and many other Urdu terms may not be a part of the policing vocabulary in the state for long