For the first time in over six decades, the Supreme Court has dared to question how Muslims can continue to be called a ‘minority’ in Jammu & Kashmir where they are in majority.
Muslims constitute 68.31 per cent of the State’s population, yet as a community they hold the lion’s share of benefits due to their national minority tag. Stepping in to solve this anomaly, the Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice DY Chandrachud on Tuesday asked the Centre, the State Government and the National Minorities Commission to explain why for decades there has never been a determination of who is a minority in Jammu & Kashmir, which also doesn’t have a State Minority Commission. The order came on a PIl filed by one Anukur Sharma, both a lawyer and a local resident of Jammu.
Giving two instances of discrimination, Sharma submitted that under the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for Welfare of Minorities, high-value scholarships of Rs 20,000 were announced in 2007-08 for meritorious students from minority communities. Out of a total of 753 scholarships, 717 were pocketed by Muslims, followed by Buddhists (22), Sikhs (12) and Christians (2) in the State. Even the loan scheme offered by the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) lists Muslim males as top beneficiaries along with other minority communities.
Sharma pointed out that while 16 States have a State Minority Commission Act, Jammu & Kashmir has neither notified any community as minority nor has it introduced a law. Such an exercise becomes mandatory considering the fact that the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992 under which National Minorities are notified, excludes Jammu & Kashmir.
“Siphoning off minority rights clandestinely and illegally to the majority community is like playing to the gallery for vote bank politics,” the petitioner said, adding, “In the name of religion, rights of actual minorities in the State are being taken away”.
The petitioner wrote to the State authorities but failed to get any response. His PIl on the issue was not allowed to be listed before the Jammu & Kashmir High Court in May 2016 following which he approached the apex court.