The Chhattisgarh government has replaced Urdu and Persian words used in police official records with Hindi terms that can be easily understood by a layperson, in order to make policing more accessible, transparent and communicative, an official here said on Saturday.

Replacing 'halafnama' with 'shapath patra' (affidavit), 'dafa' with 'dhara' (section), 'fariyadi' with 'shikayatkarta' (complainant) and 'chasmdid' with 'pratyakshdarshi' (eyewitness) are some of the examples of this.

On the instructions of Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, who also holds the home portfolio, the Director General of Police (DGP) has issued a letter to the district Superintendents of Police (SPs) in this regard stating that difficult and traditional words used in police functioning should be changed with simple and clear Hindi terms, an official statement said.

A list of 109 words with their Hindi alternatives have been provided with the letter suggesting to be used in place of old difficult words, it said.

When a common citizen visits a police station for any complaint, crime information or other work, he/she is often confused about the language used in the FIR or other documents of the police. Words of other languages are unknown to common people, due to which they are neither able to explain their point properly nor understand the entire process properly, Deputy CM Sharma said on Friday.

If the purpose of the police is to help and protect the citizens, then its language should also be such that it is understood by the citizens and increases their confidence, he added.

According to the statement, it has also been directed in this letter that all the subordinate officers should be made aware of the change and it should be ensured that the order should not remain a mere formality but its actual implementation should be seen in every police post, police station and office of the state.

The Chhattisgarh police will now not only become an institution that enforces law but also become a medium of public communication. This simplification of language will help the complainant to clearly state, hear and understand their case. Procedures like FIR, which was so far understood only by advocates or police personnel, will now be understandable to the common citizens too, it added.

Some of the words which will be replaced with simple Hindi terms are 'khayanat' to be replaced with 'hadapna' (to usurp), 'goshwara' with 'naksha' (map), 'nakabjani' with 'sendh' (burglary), 'maal mashruka' with 'looti-chori ki gai sampatti' (looted assets), 'rojnamcha' with 'samanya dainiki' (general diary), 'shinakht' with 'pehchan' (identification), 'adalat diwani' with 'civil nyayalay' (civil court), 'faujdari adalat' with 'dandik nyayalay' (criminal court), 'jarayam' with 'apradh' (crime), 'jaydade mashruka' with 'kurk hui sampatti' (confiscated property), 'zilabadar' with 'nirvasan' (externment) and 'sakin' with 'pata' (address), it said.

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