The Supreme Court on Friday took serious exception to a petition filed by a NGO that sought urgent orders to rescue close to 40 girls from madarsas in eastern Uttar Pradesh complaining that such centres of learning had become dens of illegal activities.
“You should not unnecessarily give these matters undue shade. The words you have used are not in national interest. It can disturb the peace of the country and damage the secular fabric in the country,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice RM lodha. The petition filed by Jayati Bhartam, representing NGO that claimed to have rescued many girls from madarsas, relied on a recent news report to suggest that several girls were forcibly abducted and converted in the madarsas.
The news report was based on a statement of a 20-year-old girl who narrated her ordeal as to how she was abducted on July 23, taken to a madrasa in Hapur where she was gang-raped and forced to convert to Islam.The bench, also comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohington Nariman enquired that besides newspaper report what other material was there to suggest such incidents.
“You do not produce any representation that you have made to National Commission for Women (NCW) or any complaint lodged with the police authorities. Certain issues need to be taken forward responsibly.”