Not alien to India, finest specimen of Hindustani culture: SC upholds Urdu signage in Maharashtra
New Delhi: The Supreme Court recently upheld the use of Urdu on a municipal signboard in Maharashtra’s Akola district, rejecting a plea challenging its use. The court emphasised that language is an integral part of culture and should not be used as a divisive tool. Urdu, the court stated, represents the "finest specimen of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb, or the Hindustani tehzeeb".
The bench, comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K. Vinod Chandran, disagreed with the petitioner's view, asserting that Urdu is not “alien to India.” The court pointed out that Urdu was born and evolved in India, primarily to serve as a common means of communication among people from diverse cultural backgrounds. "Urdu developed and flourished in India due to the need of people belonging to different cultural milieus who wanted to exchange ideas and communicate amongst themselves,” the bench remarked.
The court dismissed a petition by former councillor Varshatai Sanjay Bagade, who had challenged the use of Urdu on a signboard of the new building of the Patur Municipal Council. “The purpose here for the use of Urdu is merely communication. All the municipal council wanted to do was to make an effective communication. This is the primary purpose of a language, which the Bombay High Court has laid emphasis on,” the court noted.
The court further underscored the deep-rooted presence of Urdu in Indian legal parlance, noting its significant influence on both criminal and civil law. Terms like adalat, halafnama, and peshi are commonly used in Indian courts. "Even though the official language of the Supreme Court and the High Courts, as per Article 348 of the Constitution, is English, many Urdu words continue to be used in this Court to date," the bench pointed out.
The court also highlighted that many Indian states and Union Territories have adopted Urdu as a second official language. It warned against criticising Urdu, noting that such criticism often reflects a broader misunderstanding of linguistic unity. "When we criticise Urdu, we are in a way also criticising Hindi, as linguists and literary scholars assert that Urdu and Hindi are not two languages, but one language," the bench stated.
“Hindi and Urdu met a roadblock in the form of the puritans on both sides and Hindi became more Sanskritised and Urdu more Persian. A schism exploited by the colonial powers in dividing the two languages on religion. Hindi was now understood to be the language of Hindus and Urdu of the Muslims, which is such a pitiable digression from reality; from unity in diversity; and the concept of universal brotherhood,” it said.
The court concluded by reaffirming that language should be seen as a bridge for communication, bringing people from varied backgrounds closer together. It emphasised that language should never be used as a tool for division but rather as a medium to foster diverse views and unity.
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Transgender women soccer players to be banned from women's teams in England, Scotland
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London (AP): Transgender women will be banned from playing on women's soccer teams in England and Scotland following a U.K. Supreme Court ruling last month, the sport's governing body said Thursday.
The Football Association said it had decided to change its rules that had allowed transgender athletes to play on women's soccer if they had reduced testosterone levels. The Scottish Football Association made a similar decision that applies to competitive women and girls' soccer.
The U.K's highest court issued a ruling two weeks ago that defined a woman for anti-discrimination purposes as someone born biologically female. The head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said after the ruling that transgender women would be excluded from women's toilets, hospital wards and sports teams.
While the ruling was cheered by some feminist groups, it has been condemned by trans-rights groups who said it would have a broad and detrimental impact on daily life.
The issue has been polarizing in the U.K. and beyond, particularly in the United States, where President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to prohibit participation of transgender athletes in sports and to use a rigid definition of the sexes, rather than gender, for federal government purposes. The orders are being challenged in court.
The FA said that its policy before Thursday had been to make the sport accessible to as many people as possible, but that it would make alterations if there were changes in law, science or the operations of “grassroots football.”
“We understand that this will be difficult for people who simply want to play the game they love in the gender by which they identify, and we are contacting the registered transgender women currently playing to explain the changes and how they can continue to stay involved in the game,” the FA said in a statement.
About 20 transgender women have been playing in English grassroots games this season.
“The people I know that are talking about this are saying: Well, that's it for football for me,'" said Natalie Washington, a member of the group Football v Transphobia. “Most people clearly don't feel that they can go and play in the men's game for reasons of safety, for reasons of comfort."
Fiona McAnena, of the group Sex Matters, welcomed the English FA decision, saying it was long overdue.
“The FA has had ample evidence of the harms to women and girls caused by its nonsensical policy of letting men who identify as women play in women's teams," McAnena said. “The requirement to lower their testosterone tells you that everyone knew they were not women."
McAnena said that every other sporting body needs to take similar action.
The group that oversees netball, an offshoot of basketball played mainly by women, said Thursday that its female category would apply to those who were born female.
England Netball said its decision wasn't the result of the court ruling. It said that it would have three gender categories of participation: female, male and mixed, with the latter category allowing people to compete according to their gender identity.
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