From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: With the Northeast boiling over granting citizenship to non-Muslims from neighbouring Bangladesh, Supreme Court came to the region’s relief declaring that the majority communities like Hindus cannot be considered as minority in the region and other states.
Religion does not have borders and must be viewed in a pan-India context, the court said on Tuesday while dismissing a petition asking for benefits to Hindu communities that are in the minority in some states including the North East.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said no guidelines could be passed in this case and reminded the petitioner — BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay — that it was up to the government, and not the courts, to declare a community as a minority. The court’s observation on religion being understood in a pan-India context comes amid a growing wave of protests against the government’s new citizenship law. The opposition has repeatedly attacked the government over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, and said it discriminates against other religious communities, including Muslims, and violates Article 14 of the Constitution – which guarantees equality before the law and equal treatment of the law to all regardless of their citizenship status.
The petition had challenged the validity of the Centre’s 26-year-old notification that listed five communities- Parsis, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists as minorities. “Languages may be restricted state-wise… but religions don’t have state borders,” the court said.
“We have to take a pan-India approach. In Lakshadweep Muslims follow the Hindu law,” the three-member bench, which included Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant, observed, adding, “We don’t agree with you (the petitioner). What guidelines can we pass? Courts haven’t declared anyone as minority… it is government which does it”.
The Supreme Court had earlier consulted Attorney General KK Venugopal in this matter and was told Hindus are the minority population in eight states and Union Territories. These include Punjab, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep.