Violations of Freedom of Religion

Entrenching intolerance and prejudice against Muslims in India, are also increasing instances of restrictions on Freedom of Religion or belief, including freedom to adopt or change religion or belief; freedom against coercion in religion or belief; and the right to manifest one’s religion. In the period under review several incidents of restrictions have been reported:

• Seven Muslim youth, including one minor, were arrested for praying inside a shopping complex in Lucknow Uttarakhand. Police registered a criminal case on 14 July 2022 after members of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu militant group circulated video of the group praying and staged protests. Arrests followed soon after. All seven, from modest backgrounds who had gone to the newly opened Lulu Mall for post Eid celebrations,  have been charged with promoting enmity between groups, acts intended to outrage religious feelings, wrongful restraint and statements conducing to public mischief. after a video of the, offering namaz at a mall was shared on social media.
• On 24 August 2022, 26 Muslim men were charged by police in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, for praying in the open on land owned by one of them. The police case records the offence as ‘public mischief’, and was registered, reportedly, on pressure from local Bajrang Dal members, who in their complaint to the police had claimed, “by reading namaaz in the public these people are spreading hatred and enmity among people”. The police later expunged the FIR.
• On 28 August 2022, Bajrang Dal members staged a protest and took to mobilsing on social media against Muslims seen praying at another shopping mail in Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh. No case was registered this time.
• On 13 September, a group of Muslim men travelling from West Bengal to Rajasthan were made to apologise for praying on the roadside, while traveling through Uttar Pradesh, by members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Police also confirmed registering a case against the men, citing a 2019 order of the Uttar Pradesh government banning Muslims praying in streets blocking off traffic. The order did not include prayers by other faith communities.

Praying in public is not a criminal offence in India, public worship by all faith groups is routine, and Hindu public worship also has state patronage. Yet authorities, especially in BJP ruled states, are increasingly taking action against Muslims, especially under pressure from Hindu groups. In 2021, BJP politicians and Hindu groups began disrupting weekly Friday prayers in Gurugram in Haryana state, conducted in a park allotted by authorities to Muslims groups there. Under pressure, Haryana Government withdrew permission for prayers, leaving the large Muslim population of Gurugram with little space for congregational prayers. 

Religious expression is being restricted in other forms too.

• In Jammu & Kashmir ban imposed by authorities on Muharram procession, an important event in the religious calendar, specially of Shia Muslims, to restrict expression of anti-India sentiments, continues to this day. 
• Earlier in the year, in April 2022, authorities disallowed the final Friday prayers of the month of Ramadhan, traditionally a major event, to be held at Srinagar’s grand mosque, Jamia Masjid, to prevent the congregation turning into a “pro-independence protest”. The mosque had been closed to public since August 2019, and has only been opened for prayers recently.       

And following a spate of, what UN experts called ‘punitive demolitions’ of Muslim homes and properties in April through June 2022, Muslim places of worship or education too are being targeted for demolition, on one pretext or another.  

• Hindu group, Vishwa Sanathan Parishad, has demanded the demolition of Eidgah building  (mosque dedicated for Eid prayers) in Bangalore, Karnataka, also threatening to do it themselves.
• 3 August 2022: Authorities in Hyderabad in Telangana state, demolished a mosque whilst local courts were hearing a challenge to the legality of the construction of the mosque.
• Through August, authorities in Assam demolished three madrasas (Muslim seminaries) citing violation of planning and safety norms by institutions. In Bongaigaon, Markazul Ma’rif madrasa was demolished by district authorities (31 August 2022) citing lack of safety measures in the building. In Barpeta district, Mahmudul Hasan Islamic Academy was demolished (29 August) claiming it was an illegal construction on government land. Similar claims were made when the Jamiul Huda madrasa was brought down by bulldozers (4 August) in Morigaon district. Yet the state Chief minister, Hemanta Biswa Sarma has in repeated press meetings after each demolition, claimed that the demolitions were the consequence of the madrasa being used as ‘terror hubs’, and after police arrested teachers and preachers associated with the madrasa.  Some 40 persons are reported to have been arrested in seven cases. Sarma has also claimed that in the last five months state police have busted five ‘jihadi terror’ modules.

• On 6 September 2022, it was the turn of a Hindu mob in Goalpara district to pull down a fourth madrasa, Pakhiura Char Madrasa, when according to the district police, “residents of the area were agitated over the alleged anti-Indian and ‘jihadi’ activities” of the madrasa, after the arrest of  a preacher associated with the madras, going to say: “The locals developed strong resentment…..The madrasa being demolished was a strong message from the public that they are against anti-national elements and they don’t want to be party to such activities”.   
• On 22 August, Chief Minister Sarma announced that state government was making police verification and registration mandatory for Muslim clerics entering Assam. A similar process is being implemented for private madrasas operating in the state.  No such arrangements are in place or have been announced for institutions run by other faith communities. Earlier the state government shut down some 700 government aided madrasas, claiming it could not allow religious education funded by public money. No such restrictions exist for its subsidising pilgrimage by private individuals. 

Similar moves are also beginning to be taken against madarsas in Uttar Pradesh. UP authorities announced on 2 September 2022 that they will be conducting a survey of ‘unrecognised madarsas’. On 12 September, authorities in Amethi district of the state were reported pulling down a madrasa, claiming illegal construction, even though it has been reported that a case is ongoing on the matter in local courts. Now Uttarakhand, yet another BJP ruled state, is reported moving against madrasa. 

There are other instances of restrictions on right to freedom of religion of minorities, reported in the period under review, whilst majoritarianism gains ground steadily. 

• the BJP ruled Government of Gujarat decreed in March 2022, the teaching of Gita, the principal religious text of Hinduism, in classes 6-12 from academic session 2022-23. Religious texts of other faiths are not part of the curriculum.On 12 July 2022, High Court of Gujarat hearing a challenge against the government order, on grounds of discrimination and violation of fundamental rights of minorities, refused to put a stay on the government decision until a final order, or to fastrack the hearing. 
• Aligarh Muslim University, a 150 year institution set up to educate Muslims, unexpectedly dropped courses on two Islamic scholars, under pressure from a coordinated move by Hindutva aligned academics and the BJP government, that claimed that the university (and two others also serving Muslims mostly) was teaching ‘brazenly Jihadi Islamic course curriculum’ to indoctrinate students.        
• Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district, registered a case under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (‘malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief’ as well as the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act 2021 against the management of Florets International School, for including Islamic prayers in multi-faith prayers used by the schools as part of its morning assembly. The move comes after Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindu organisations made a complaint to the police, claimed that the school was carrying out Siksha Jihad (‘education Jihad’) for the purposes of converting Hindu children, and conducted ‘purification’ of the school, by cleaning it with water from river Ganga.    

And several applications are reported having been filed by Hindu groups demanding opening Muslim religious sites to worship by Hindus.

• On 2 September, local court in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, admitted an application by Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha claiming that town’s Jama Masjid Shamsi mosque was a temple of Lord Shiva and Hindus should be allowed to pray there.
• Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has also filed a petition in local court seeking the removal of Meena Masjid, a Mughal era mosque in Mathura Uttar Pradesh, claiming that it has been built on the birthplace of Lord Krishna.
• The Uttar Pradesh High Court will hear a case in September which began in August 2021 with a group of Hindu women approaching the courts demanding a right to pray to ‘visible and invisible gods’ in the mosque complex. In a September 12 order, a Varanasi court upheld the women’s demand to a right to pray at the property all year around, and not just the one day in the year they are already allowed to pray to idols there.

This follows a trend of courts, rather than rejecting baseless claims, entertaining the applications and initiating legal proceedings, thus opening spaces for civil litigation against Muslims places of worship. These moves contravene a law that the national Parliament enacted in 1991, after the demolition of Babri masjid, the medieval era mosque in Ayodhaya 1992, not to change the character of any religious monument. Indeed, the Supreme Court of India has also admitted applications by Hindu groups challenging the law itself. Observers fear this is a well-planned move to target historical mosques in India for their conversion to Hindu temples, through using the law and legal procedures, in the same manner the Babri Masjid was