Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind has sent a legal notice to Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran for a report published on 07 July, targeting Madrasas. The notice sent on Friday demands an “unconditional apology in writing” and warns civil and criminal legal proceedings if failed to act on the notice.

“In search of Umar Gautam’s Madarasa, more than 30 Madarasa on radar,” translates the title of the report. The report claims these Madrasas are working illegally. Reports on ‘Love Jihad’ are also placed under the broader title.

The notice is sent by the Supreme Court advocate M R Shamshad on behalf of his client Maulana Mahmood A. Madani, President of Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind.

Weeks back, Muslim scholar, Umar Gautam and his associate Mufti Qazi Jahangir Qasmi, a cleric, were arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police’s Anti-Terror Squad under sections of the state’s Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2020, for allegedly converting thousands by misrepresentation. Muslim groups have challenged the allegations.

The notice, accessed by Maktoob, says “the reporting appears to be with malafide intention to malign the reputation of Madrasas in general. Its reading is blatantly generalised in nature thereby posturing an extremely negative construct for all the Madrasas.”

The report claims that the Madrasas are working illegally. Madani refutes this claim in the legal notice to Jagran Prakashan Ltd, the publisher of Dainik Jagran.

The notice also says the claims are “false and incorrect impression that goes against the cardinal constitutional principles wherein not only all minorities (religious or linguistic) have been provided with the right to administer and establish educational institutions of their choice in the country (Article 30).”

“Such publications can be seen parallel to the multifarious campaign including those coming from governmental agencies against Madrasas and anti-Muslim politics in general,” Advocate Nabeela Jamil, an associate of M R Shamshad told Maktoob.

“The publication of the above story has caused an irreparable injury and loss of reputation to Madrasas in general when you have sought to link with the case of Umar Gautam; which itself is an unverified sub-judice matter at this stage,” reads the notice.

The notice demands the newspaper to apologize unconditionally and urged the newspaper to stop any further circulation of the ‘impugned article’ and to take the online copy from the website.

This story first appeared on maktoobmedia.com