A prominent Indian Muslim organisation filed a plea at India’s highest court last week calling for its urgent intervention to prevent the destruction of properties belonging to those Muslims defending themselves in states ruled by the right-wing extremist BJP party.
Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, one of the leading organisations of Islamic scholars in India, filed a petition at the Supreme Court urging the latter to issue orders to the federal and state governments concerning violent action against the properties of Muslims.
“Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the dangerous politics of bulldozers that have been started to destroy minorities especially Muslims under the guise of crime prevention in BJP-ruled states.”
Maulana Syed Arshad Madani, president of the Jamiat [1]
Authorities across two states last week bulldozed dozens of homes and shops that belonged to Muslims who were accused of taking part in violence provoked by Hindu extremists during one of their festivals.
According to legal representatives from the Supreme Court, the demolitions played out in the previous week were illegal and unconstitutional.
“Actually there is no law which permits this kind of demolition. This person [accused] is a suspect at this juncture. The police or the administration is behaving like the judge, jury and the executor and is punishing the person.”
Supreme Court lawyer Vrinda Grover said in an interview with Al Jazeera.[3]
“Even if assuming that somebody has done some crime of rioting or any other crime, the chief minister or any of the persons from the administration has no right to punish,” [2] Majeed Memon, a former parliamentarian and top criminal lawyer, said to Al Jazeera.
During the so-called Ram Navmi festival in the state of Madhya Pradesh, Hindu men wearing saffron robes and carrying sticks, swords and pistols, marched through predominantly Muslim neighbourhoods chanting slogans that threatened genocide against the Muslim community.
The gang also played loud music outside a Mosque and attacked homes and shops belonging to Muslims. The extremists also pelted stones which prompted Muslim residents to defend themselves against the Hindu mob, thus being accused of violence themselves and having their homes demolished.
Boris sparks outrage
Amidst a slew of controversies at home the British prime minister Boris Johnson sparked another “outrage” across India. He was pictured in a visit on a bulldozer by British Tory-donor-owned company JCB, earning condemnation from groups such as Amnesty India.
“In the backdrop of Municipal Corporation of Delhi using JCB bulldozers to raze down shops of Muslims in Northwest Delhi’s Jahangirpuri yesterday, UK Prime Minister’s inauguration of a JCB factory in Gujarat is not only ignorant but his silence on the incident is deafening,”
Amnesty India [4]
Also read
-
An open letter to the authorities and people of Pakistan
Pakistan can become a superpower by focusing on five pillars: education, unity, social justice, fighting corruption, and building alliances.
Source: Islam21c
Notes:
[1] https://twitter.com/ArshadMadani007/status/1515659562514526208?s=20&t=OlFx09j3P5VN_6ScLnXFyQ
[2] https://twitter.com/ArshadMadani007/status/1516671872087490563?s=20&t=OlFx09j3P5VN_6ScLnXFyQ
