New Delhi, April 16 -- The Supreme Court upheld the use of Urdu on the signboards of a municipal council in Maharashtra, saying that Urdu and Marathi have the same status under the Constitution.

The Supreme Court Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran rejected the claims that only Marathi should be used on signboards.

The Court said that Urdu, despite its Indian origin, came to be associated with Muslims, which was far from reality, according to a report by the legal news website Bar and Bench. The Court also blamed colonial powers for associating Hindi with Hindus and Urdu with Muslims.

"This is not an occasion to have an elaborate discussion on the rise and fall of Urdu, but this much can be stated that this fusion o...