Minority Status For Hindus In 8 States: SC Asks Petitioner To Approach National Minorities Commission

The Supreme Court today asked petitioner in a PIL seeking minority status for Hindus in eight states to approach the National Minorities Commission.

After this the petition was withdrawn."We cannot issue such orders. Go to the Commission..they are the most competent body", a bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi told senior advocate Arvind Datar who appeared for petitioner Ashwini Upadhyaya.

Datar unsuccessfully argued that the National Commission only dealt with national level decisions and did not look into each state's demand and therefore SC could decide but the bench wasn't impressed.

 The PIL states that Hindus must be notified as minority community in these eight states so that they are given legitimate benefits

“According to 2011 Census, Hindus are minority in eight states i.e. Lakshadweep (2.5%), Mizoram (2.75%), Nagaland (8.75%), Meghalaya (11.53%), J&K (28.44%), Arunachal Pradesh (29%), Manipur (31.39%) and Punjab (38.40%)," the PIL states.

It also adds that the minority rights of Hindus in these states are being "siphoned off illegally and arbitrarily to the majority population because neither Central nor the state governments have notified Hindus as a ‘minority’ under Section 2(c) of National Commission for Minority Act. Therefore, Hindus are being deprived of their basic rights, guaranteed under Articles 25 to 30.”

The petition has been filed by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and advocate Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay.

The PIL adds that Muslims are majority in Lakshdweep (96.20%) and Jammu and Kashmir (68.30%) and there is significant population in Assam (34.20%), West Bengal (27.5%), Kerala (26.60%), Uttar Pradesh (19.30%) and Bihar (18%) but they are enjoying the ‘minority’ status, and the communities which are real minorities, are not getting their legitimate share.

“Christians are majority in Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland and there is significant population in Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Manipur, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, but they are treated as minority. Likewise, Sikhs are majority in Punjab and there is significant population in Delhi, Chandigarh and Haryana but they are also treated as minority,” he said.