Skip to main content

US religious freedom panel adds 3 more names as victims of Indian state persecution

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has declared Imam Umar Guatam, Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi and and Maulana Kaleem Farooqui as “victims of religious persecution” in India, a US-based rights group, Justice for All (JfA), with hubs in Chicago, New York and Washington DC, has said in an email alert to Counterview.
In a statement, JfA said, Imam Umar Gautam was arrested on June 21 along with Mufti Qazi Jahangir Alam Qasmi, both preachers from Delhi’s Jamia Nagar by the Uttar Pradesh police’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) on charges of “mass conversion of people to Islam through inducements such as marriage, job and money and mental pressure.”Maulana Kaleem Farooqui is also an Islamic religious scholar, and was arrested a few months later under the same pretext by the Uttar Pradesh authorities.
USCIRF has so far added 33 prisoners “incarcerated” by the Indian regime to their victims list. The victims listed have been accused by the Indian government of spreading discord and disturbing communal harmony under “various draconian laws”, such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Religious Anti-Conversion laws, JfA, which enjoys consultative status at the United Nations, said.
Protesting against the arrests, Abu Bakr Sabbaq, leading lawyer for Imam Umar Gautam, said, “Article 25 of the Indian Constitution is very clear that every citizen has a constitutional right as well as its protection that he or she may propagate religious teachings to others who are following other religions. Umar Gautam and other accused persons are implicated in a case without evidence, and also alleging anti national activities.”
He added, “In chargesheet, considering the statements of those who approached Umar Gautam for conversion certificates, it is clear that their inclination towards Islam was there even before they decided to formalize the process. Where then is the question of coercion or undue influence?"
Referring to the inclusion of two more sections of the Indian Penal Code in a supplementary charge sheet submitted by Uttar Pradesh’s Anti-Terrorism Squad in which section 121A (attempt to wage war against the government of India) and section 123 (concealing existence of a design to wage war against the government of India) have also been added, Sabbaq further said, "This is a fact that NGOs like those being run by Umar Gautam and others received substantial amount of donations post-Delhi riots for relief work.”
But he noted, to link this with an attempt to wage war against the country is simply absurd. “Be it the brochure or conversion registers recovered, nowhere do they say that money or jobs will be offered in lieu of conversion. They don’t establish that any inducement was offered.”
Sabbaq pointed out that the concept of allurement is not well-defined in the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act. “Even in the Act, allurement has been covered in a vague manner. And the same approach has been used in this case as well.”
Human rights organizations assert that the Indian government targets religious leaders and civil society for being critical of the government’s human rights abuses. Human rights defenders and minority religious leaders are held on arbitrary charges and languish in jail for extended periods of time while awaiting bail hearings, the statement said.
"By adding these names to the victims list, USCIRF recognizes the malfeasance of the Indian government in using these laws to persecute religious minorities," stated Zahir Adil, team lead of Save India From Fascism, adding, “Persons added on USCIRF’s victims list are researched independently by USCIRF, although organizations can, and often make submissions of victim profiles for consideration.”
Hena Zuberi, Washington DC director of JfA, said, “Our team has submitted profiles of such prisoners over the last 2 years to USCIRF. Many of the names we had submitted, as well as several others, have been included. We appreciate USCIRF’s indepth research and investigation into these cases.”
She added, “Recognizing the victims of the Indian government is an effective mechanism to notify India that US agencies are monitoring its degradation of human rights. Touted as the world’s largest democracy, India is quickly being reduced to a fascist group-autocracy with ballot box validation.”
Additions to the USCIRF victims database include: Gulfisha FatimaShifa ur-RehmanIshrat JehanUmar GautamQazi Jahangir QasmiKaleem SiddiquiNatasha NarwalDevangana KalitaAsif Iqbal Tanha, and Safoora Zargar.
Also included are Abdullah GautamJam SinghAnsingh NinamaMangu Mehtab BhuriyaJaveed KhanNandha NathanielSavita SinghRamesh VasuniyaKumtu VasuniyaSaju BenSama BenRanga BenAdyaKishor Ram, Fahad Shah, and Hidme Markam.

Comments

TRENDING

60 crore in Mahakumbh? It's all hype with an eye on UP polls, asserts keen BJP supporter in Amit Shah's constituency

As the Mahakumbh drew to a close, during my daily walk, I met a veteran BJP supporter—a neighbor with whom we would often share dinner in a group. An amicable person, the first thing he asked me, as he was about to take the lift to his flat, was, "How many people do you think must have participated in the holy dip?" He then stopped by to talk—which we did for a full half-hour, cutting into my walk time.

Morari Bapu echoes misleading figures to support the BJP's anti-conversion agenda

A senior Gujarat activist phoned me today to inform me that the well-known storyteller on Lord Ram, Morari Bapu, has made an "unsubstantiated" and "preposterous" statement in Songadh town, located in the tribal-dominated Tapi district. He claimed that while the Gujarat government wants the Bhagavad Gita to be taught in schools, the "problem is" that 75% of government teachers "are Christians who do not let this happen" and are “involved in religious conversions.”

Breaking news? Top Hindu builder ties up with Muslim investor for a huge minority housing society in Ahmedabad

There is a flutter in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur area, derogatorily referred to as the "border" because, on its eastern side, there is a sprawling minority area called Juhapura, where around five lakh Muslims live. The segregation is so stark that virtually no Muslim lives in Vejalpur, populated by around four lakh Hindus, and no Hindu lives in Juhapura.

An untold story? Still elusive: Gujarati language studies on social history of Gujarat's caste and class evolution

This is a follow-up to my earlier blog , where I mentioned that veteran scholar Prof. Ghanshyam Shah has just completed a book for publication on a topic no academic seems to have dealt with—caste and class relations in Gujarat’s social history. He forwarded me a chapter of the book, published as an "Economic & Political Weekly" article last year, which deals with the 2015 Patidar agitation in the context of how this now-powerful caste originated in the Middle Ages and how it has evolved in the post-independence era.

Justifying social divisions? 'Dogs too have caste system like we humans, it's natural'

I have never had any pets, nor am I very comfortable with them. Frankly, I don't know how to play with a pet dog. I just sit quietly whenever I visit someone and see their pet dog trying to lick my feet. While I am told not to worry, I still choose to be a little careful, avoiding touching the pet.

Caste, class, and Patidar agitation: Veteran academic 'unearths' Gujarat’s social history

Recently, I was talking with a veteran Gujarat-based academic who is the author of several books, including "Social Movements in India: A Review of Literature", "Untouchability in Rural India", "Public Health and Urban Development: The Study of Surat Plague", and "Dalit Identity and Politics", apart from many erudite articles and papers in research and popular journals.

New York-based digital company traces Modi's meteoric rise to global Hindutva ecosystem over several decades

A recent document, released by the Polis Project Inc.—a New York-based digital magazine and hybrid research and journalism organization—even as seeking to highlight the alleged rise of authoritarianism in India, has sought to trace Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meteoric rise since 2014 to the ever-expanding global Hindutva ecosystem over the last several decades.

Socialist utopia challenging feudal and Brahminical systems: Kanwal Bharti on Sant Raidas’ vision of Begumpura

In a controversial claim, well-known Dalit writer and columnist Kanwal Bharti has asserted that a clever Brahminical move appears to be behind the Guru Granth Sahib changing the name of the 15th-16th century mystic poet-saint of the Bhakti movement, Sant Raidas, to Sant Ravidas.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.