Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The country’s apex Muslim body, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, has come down heavily on the stringent sentences, ranging from ten years to life imprisonment recently awarded by a lower court to Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, Dr Umar Gautam and others for alleged “forceful conversion” of some people to Islam. The sentences are “wrong and a grave misuse of law and judiciary,” said Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, Mushawarat chief and former chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission.
In a statement issued here on Friday, Dr Khan said the provincial “law” used for these questionable convictions directly violates Articles 25 to 28 of the Indian Constitution which accords every Indian citizen the right to profess, preach and promote any religion.
“These so-called ‘convicts’ believe Islam as the true religion and tried to convey the same message to others. There is nothing wrong or illegal if they received any foreign monetary help for their work. The fact is that Hindus, Christians and Buddhists freely receive thousands of times more monetary help from abroad to propagate their faiths and plans,” the statement said.
Dr Khan said that followers of Hindutva have long been active in enticing poor Muslims and Christians using the bait of money and jobs to lure them to embrace Hinduism under the slogan of “Ghar wapsi” yet no action has been taken against them to date despite their triumphant declarations now and then about the success of their plan. This proves that the purpose of the said provincial unconstitutional “law” is to harass minorities, he said hoping that higher courts will soon overturn the lower court verdict.
This story was originally published in clarionindia.net. Read the full story here.