The world is witnessing incidents of discrimination in India especially against Muslims. In any democratic country, institutions are supposed to provide justice to the people but unfortunately the courts in India repeatedly given verdicts supporting the Hindutva ideology. Another such decision came regarding the bulldozing of Muslims properties and homes who were part of the protests against the blasphemous statements made by the BJP political leaders earlier.
The court however has given its verdict against the Muslim population, something similar in the past as well with regards to mosques also being declared as not essential to Muslim’s worship just as previously the hijab was also deemed as not essential to Islam. It seems that the ways in which Muslims and other minorities in Indian can actually go about having some sort of normal life are being minimized.
Famous Indian writer Arundhati Roy while criticizing the cruelty being inflicted on the Muslims expressed that it is unfortunate that courts are standing with extremists in India and are not providing justice to the Muslims. She said, Muslims are being conveyed that Muslims you are on your own. There is no help. There is no law for you. And all the institutions that were part of the checks and balances of that old democracy are now going to be used as weapons against you.
When Muslims protested against the policies of BJP government, their houses were being demolished while protests which were conducted by Indian youth against Agnipath recruitment scheme which have spread in several states, they are being treated in an opposite manner. There are constant double standards which are representing today’s India, the tag India always enjoyed of being a secular nation seems to be faded.
In 2019, revocation of article 370 was a test case for India’s judiciary as it was an open and shut case. It was unfortunate in the way in which Indian judiciary meddled in the interpretation of law itself. This is an indicator that India’s democratic institutions are failing as gradually, people are losing faith in use of these democratic institutions. In coming days this could result in settlement of all issues through violence.
There has been a series of anti-Muslims verdicts in India over the recent times, one can conclude that there are blatant violation of local laws; minorities were convicted in many false cases. Regular decisions came against the Muslim’s religious connotations. On the hand, not a single Hindu was convicted in carrying such charges on which Muslim’s are being convicted by the Indian courts.
The Unites States report on the religious freedom and statement by the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also raised questions on the prevailing scenario in India in which minorities are being targeted and religious freedom is not being allowed. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its recent report, paints a grim picture of human rights in India based on these claims. The report cites extrajudicial killings, suppression of media freedom, arbitrary arrests, violence against religious minorities, and excessive restrictions on funding NGOs and civil society organizations.
India is turning into a totalitarian state in which BJP wanted to demolish everything which has a trace to Islam and Muslims. India has many other religious minorities and this go towards them as well. BJP government is trying to change whole ideology of India from a secular state to a Hindu state. Muslims make up 16% of the Indian population but due to the bias of BJP government this is the first time since 1947 that not a single Muslim has been in the central cabinet. The so called Muslim minority, if it were a country on its own, probably would have been the sixth largest country in the World.
The courts in the past has also given verdicts which are off course not just and are in line with the BJP’s ideology of marginalization of minorities. Indian courts have been taking the unilateral decisions despite being the presence of legal and moral obligations. Not only Pakistan but the entire international community can question these double standards of judiciary in India. Being a major institution of the state, it is prime responsibility of the courts to stand by the law and the constitution as courts are supposed to interpret the constitution than following the policies of the incumbent government.
