Hyderabad, April 16 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday, April 15, observed that Urdu is not an alien language and "is the finest specimen of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (culture), or the Hindustani tehzeeb."

Refusing to interfere with the Bombay High Court's order stating that Urdu should not be prohibited under the Maharashtra Local Authorities (Official Languages) Act, 2022, or in any provision of law, the top court pointed out that the "language was born in this land (India)."

A division bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran was hearing a petition challenging the use of Urdu on signboards in the Akola district of Maharashtra.

"Language is not religion. Language does not even represent religion. Language belongs to a communit...