Nobody Should Try To Make India An Islamic Country: Meghalaya HC Judge

While disposing of a petition regarding grant of domicile certificate, Justice Sudip Ranjan of Meghalaya High Court on Monday said that: "nobody should try to make India… another Islamic country, otherwise it will be a doomsday for India and the world,” 

Justice Sen also said that as Pakistan declared itself an Islamic country after the partition, India should have also been declared a Hindu country but “remained a secular country,” according to a report in The Indian Express.

He quoted a book, My People Uprooted: The Exodus of Hindus from East Pakistan and Bangladesh, authored by Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy.

The 37-page judgement by Justice Sen was given on Monday while disposing of a petition filed by Amon Rana who was denied domicile certificate. The copy of the order was made available on Tuesday.

The judgement observed that Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos are tortured even today in the three neighbouring countries and they have no place to go.

He also urged the Prime Minister, Law Minister and the Parliament to bring a legislation to allow citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos, who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, without any question or documents.

He also viewed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise as "defective" as many foreigners became Indians and original Indians were left out.

NRC is a “fool-proof state machinery” for accentuating “division and divide and it would be inhumanity, bestiality and injustice of the worst kind if ever the NRC non-qualifiers… are sent to the detention camps, made to languish and perish”, the Indian Express quoted the judge as saying.

Justice Sen said he is “confident that only this Government under Shri Narendra Modiji will understand the gravity, and will do the needful” and “Chief Minister Mamataji will support the national interest in all respect.

"I request our beloved Prime Minister, Home Minister, Law Minister and Members of Parliament to bring a law to allow the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to live in this country peacefully and with full dignity without making any cut off year and be given citizenship without any question or production of any 21 documents," Justice Sen said.

Although the Centre's Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 also seeks to make Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan eligible for Indian citizenship after a stay of six years, there was no mention of this bill in the court order.

The judge directed the Centre's Assistant Solicitor General, Meghalaya High Court, A Paul to hand over the copy of the judgment to the prime minister, Union home and law ministers latest by Tuesday for their perusal and necessary steps to bring a law to safeguard the interest of the communities.

The judge, however, clarified that he was not against “my Muslim brothers and sisters who are residing in India for generations… they should also be allowed to live peacefully,” he said.