Law

PIL in Supreme Court seeks minority tag for Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir

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A PIL filed in the Supreme Court has sought minority status for Hindus in Jammu & Kashmir along with eight states where the community’s population has fallen, according to the 2011 Census.

The petition filed by Delhi BJP leader and advocate Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay said, “According to 2011 Census, Hindus are minority in eight states i.e. Lakshadweep (2.5%), Mizoram (2.75%), Nagaland (8.75%), Meghalaya (11.53%), J&K (28.44%), Arunachal Pradesh (29%), Manipur (31.39%) and Punjab (38.40%). But, their minority rights are being siphoned off illegally and arbitrarily to the majority population because neither Central nor the state governments have notified Hindus as a ‘minority’ under Section 2(c) of National Commission for Minority Act. Therefore, Hindus are being deprived of their basic rights, guaranteed under Articles 25 to 30.”

Upadhyay said Hindus are being treated as majority in these states despite being minority in population and are, therefore, illegitimately being deprived of benefits meant for minority communities.

He said, “The Union Government offered 20,000 scholarships in field of technical education for minority students. In J&K, Muslims are 68.30% and government allotted 717 out of 753 scholarships to Muslim students, but none to Hindu students citing Notification on Minority Communities dated 23.10.1993 which declares Muslim’s as minority, but not the Hindus.”

The National Commission for Minority Act 1992 came into force on May 17, 1993. It extends to the whole of India except J&K.

The Central Government through a notification dated October 23, 1993, notified five communities viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis as ‘minority’ community

“Jains were also added in the list in 2014, but not the Hindus, though they are minority in eight states,” the PIL stated.

In their ‘agenda for alliance’, coalition partners, Bhariya Janata Party (BJP) and People Democratic Party (PDP) had agreed no to touch article 370.

After Leader of Opposition Omar Abdullah warned Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in the House that the BJP might use the judiciary to scrap Article 370 because “it has understood it cannot use legislation”, the Chief Minister said any move to change J&K’s special status would be “anti national”.

Her comments led to a protest from BJP members, and Speaker Kavinder Gupta expunged the CM’s remarks.

Earlier, petitioner Ankur Sharma had sought a Minority Commission Act for Hindus in J&K, challenging benefits given to Muslims on the ground that they are in a majority in the state, and asked for the benefits to be given to Hindus.

 

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