Issues & Concerns

1. India’s Religious Minorities
Issues & Concerns

2. Greatest Threat : Security Of Life and Property
Physical Vulnerability• Incidents (Major and Minor) of Mass Targeted Violence that have seen an
increase over the past two and a half decades, approximately—Christians
are also a target
• Regular and Systematic Attacks from the State in Terms of Round-Ups,
Arrests, Intimidation by the Police despite the accused in mass crimes
being from majoritarian groups;
• The failure to prosecute the guilty combined by a cynical climate of
impunity enjoyed by the political representative, the administrator and the
policeman who is in positions of authority and power when these attacks
take place
• All these Attacks are Violative of Article 14, 21, 25 of the Constitution of
India
• Wings of the state have displayed distinct partisanship, anti-minority bias
as is clear from the recent firings at Dhule, Maharashtra 2013 and Gujarat
2002 (14 districts)
• Such targeted violence has made a large section of our population
vulnerable and victimized

3. Illustrative Statistics
• 33 per cent of Undertrials in Jails are Muslims
(Maharashtra)
• 25 per cent of Undertrials in Jails are Muslims (Gujarat)
• 19 per cent of Undertrials in Jails are Muslims
(Karnataka)
• Much Higher than their population share
(These figures were available with the Justice Sachar Committee report but were
excluded as were issues of security and gender discrimination)

4. Consequences of Targeted Violence –
a 25 year old legacy
• Ghettoisation of Living Spaces and Segregation of Children in the
Schooling System
• Non availibilty of residential spaces in mixed areas for Muslims
• Lesser Interaction between Communities especially the young
• Callous Indifference among Majority Youth to the Issues of the
Minority
• Bitter Alienation of Muslim youth, especially the young men and
attendant bitterness
• An internal barrier, division or schism in society that is unhealthy for
any living breathing democracy

5. Background
• 1984 could in a sense be seen to be the benchmark when India’s
first mass state attack on minorities took place in the country’s
capital when 3,000 Sikhs were massacred in New Delhi and a
total of 7,000 all over the country
• Sikhs were attacked after former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s
bodyguard assassinated her. Muslims, have suffered
intermittent attacks, localized but severe and more widespread
since also the mid-eighties. These attacks increased after the re-
opening of the locks of the ‘Babri Masjid’ in Ayodhya and the
planned campaign by Hindu right wing groups to make the
demand for a temple on the spot where a Mosque stood the
focus of mass mobilization and a movement. On December 6,
1992 the Mosque was demolished. But in the years preceding
that, every part of India that Lal Krishna Advani visited on his
rath yatra (Advani later rose to become India’s Minister for Home
Affairs and deputy prime minister under the NDA) exploded in
anti-minority violence, killings, arson and destruction of
property.

6. Violence Against
Muslim Minority
in the 1980-1990s
• Ahmedabad in Gujarat (1969, 1985, 1992)
• Aligarh, Muradabad in Uttar Pradesh (1980, 1990-1991)
• Nellie in Assam (1983)
• Bhiwandi and Bombay in Maharashtra (1984)
• Meerut/Maliana
• Hashimpura, UP (1987)
• Hubli in Karnataka (1988)
• Bhagalpur in Bihar (1989)
• Jaipur in Rajasthan (1992)
• Surat, Gujarat, Indore and Bhopal and Bombay (post
demolition 1992-1993)

7. Muslims a Victim of Demonisation
• While the Sikhs suffered a targeted form of mass violence
guided by the government in power as a result of the political
Khalistan movement, the attacks though condemnable were a
one-time aberration.
• Muslims on the other hand, have suffered both systematic
mass attacks coupled with a systematic demonisation
culturally and in public discourse that seeks to justify the
violence against them. Partition in 1947and the democratic
Kashmiri movement taking to arms provided fodder for this
hysterical rhetoric.
• Long before 9/11 India’s Muslims had been dubbed not only
anti-national but also ‘terrorist.’ Ironically however, (and Indian
official records and sources substantiate this), there was not a
single incident of ‘terror’ by politicized Muslims outside the
state of Jammu and Kashmir before 1992.

8. Christians a Target Too
• Christians since the late 1990s, especially since the attack on 16
Churches in the Dangs district of Gujarat and then the burning
alive of Graham Steins and his two young sons in Orissa have
also been the target of attack by the Hindu supremacist groups.
• During the winter of 2007 after over three dozen Churches were
vandalised in the Kandhamals region of Orissa, in August 2008,
99 Christians were killed in targeted violence in 300 villages.
There were instances of rape (the rape of a Nun was only
proceeded against 59 days after the crime), arson and hounding
and destruction of property;
• Around the same time, the southern state of Karnataka saw a
systematic attack against Christians and Muslims in the Udipi
region, in Mangalore and Bangalore. The functioning of the
Official Commissions of Inquiry in all three cases has been
shocking with complicit judges not pinning down the
perpetrators.

9. Mob Terror and Bomb
Terror: A sinister link
• Home Grown Terrorists and International Terrorists function hand
in hand.
• Examples of Mob Violence from 1992 - 2012
• Surat, Porbunder, Khedbrahma Limbadiya and Ahmedabad (2001)
• Sanswad and Wai in Maharashtra (2001-2002, 2003)
• Malegaon in Maharashtra (2001)
• Gujarat 2002 a Genocidal Carnage
• Gorakhpur, Mhow in Uttar Pradesh (2005, 2006)
• Dhule, Yeovatmal, Digras in Maharashtra (2008, 2009, 2013)
• Gopalganj (Bihar), Rudrapur (Uttarakhand), Bharatpur (Rajasthan)
(all in 2011)
• Faizabad, Mathura, and 8 other locations in Uttar Pradesh (2012,
2013)

10. Hindu Terrorists
• Bomb terror is also being indulged in by Hindu right wing
outfits but underplayed and ignored by the Intelligence
Agencies
• Nanded, Parbhani, Malegaon etc. (Bomb Attacks on
Mosques)
• Since 2006 & now again in 2008 & 2009 due to consistent
citizens’ pressure the Maharashtra ATS has chargesheeted
supremicist Hindu activists with conspiracy, bomb making and
attempt to murder

11. Indian Christians
• Christians who constitute close to 4 per cent of
the Indian population if you include Dalit
Christians have also been the target of attack
since 1998. Between 1998-1999 there were over
55 attacks . Since then while attacks are not so
many in terms of number they consistently not
only happen but the offences remain
unprosecuted and unpunished.

12. Impact of Majoritarian Shift
of Indian Democracy
• Since these developments, not only did the
attacks on religious minorities happen with
systematic regularity but as bad, the system
absorped these happenings with a non –
reaction. The Indian state took a swing in the
majoritarian direction.
• How did this get manifested?

13. Laws that reflect a Majoritarian Shift
• Five Indian States have enacted laws ironically called the Freedom of
Religion Act that in fact curb Article 25 which guarantees the
fundamental right to freely profess and propagate one’s faith;
• These laws were passed under pressure from right wing supremacist
groups;
• The National Commission for Minorities when it wrote to States asking
of there were any instances of “forced” conversions the alleged
justification for the laws the NCM has received a negative response
• The more recent such law is the one passed in Madhya Pradesh and
Gujarat that in the guise of legislating against cow slaughter actually
seeks to curb the fundamental cultural rights of Dalits and religious
minorities by prohibiting the consumption of beef

14. Some Examples
• Hate Speech and Hated Writing Permeating Public Discourse and being un-
prosecuted
• Educational Material, Especially textbooks of Social Studies and History reveal a
Selective and Manipulated Rendering of these Subjects that together result in both
the exclusion and demonisation of the minorities in general but India’s largest
minority in particular.
• For example
• Maulana Azad, India’s first education minister and a tall leader of Nehru’s first
cabinet of ministers made a stirring speech on the steps of the Jama Masjid (New
Delhi’s historic mosque) the day India was Partitioned. Textbooks rarely refer to
this or to the strong criticism of Muslim leadership of the Congress’ acceptance of
the Brfitish Partition Plan.
• Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, or Frontier Gandhi as he has been called was a stalwart
leader among the Pushtuns of Peshawar, another staunch Congressman who
opposed Partition tooth and nail. The spearheading of this struggle did at one
point form part of history texts in some states; since about the same period, he
has disappeared from the texts!!
• There are even more stark examples of texts in some states like Gujarat and Uttar
Pradesh which are being clearly used to create hatred and division in the growing
child’s mind.

15. Impunity to Mass Crime
Systematic Violence Against the Religious Minorities goes, except in Rare Cases,
UNPUNISHED
Compare payment of ‘compensation’ to victims of mob violence to victims of ‘bomb violence’
• 1983: Independent India’s worst ever massacre of the Minorities in Assam, Nellie. Oover
3,000 killed and non punished.
• 1984: Barely a dozen minor cases of the anti Sikh massacre have resulted in the guilty
being punished. Politically influential persons have gone scot free.
• 1987: 51 Muslim boys were shot dead by the UP Provincial Armed Constabulary. Though
chargesheets were filed against policemen they were not prosecuted.
• 1989: Over 1,000 persons were killed mercilessly in Bhagalpur, Bihar. While the guilty have
been punished in about 12 cases, the masterminds behind the carnage are free.
• Kashmiri Pandits killed and targeted and made to flee from the Kashmir Valley. Kashmiri
Muslims also the target of armed terror groups and the Indian state.
• 1992 1993 Bombay burned when the Shiv Sena went on the rampage and over 1,100 persons
were killed mainly Muslims and Muslim property worth Rs 2,000 crores was destroyed.
Fifteen years later, policemen found prima facie guilty have escaped punishment, some
eyewitnesses are facing the wrath of a vindictive police and politicians who spurred the
mobs roam free.
• 2002 Gujarat. Over 2,500 persons massacred and atleast 300 women subject to brute
sexual violence. There have been convictions in barely six cases. There are continued
efforts to subvert justice. The recent Tehelka sting shows how the murderers not only gloat
on the crimes but enjoy patronage at the highest political level. There are still mass graves
in Gujarat. Compensation for homes lost and businesses destroyed has just not been paid.
• Over 200 persons, Muslims were in jail in Gujarat between 2002 and 2011 (until the Trial
Court delivered its verdict) with POTA an anti terror law being slapped against them. No bail
even after five years and more.
• Close to 100 killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in July-August 2012 after Violence
rocked Assam with a failure and reluctance of the state to give adequate representation to
Minorities in governance.

16. Result
The Non-Deliverance of Justice to the
Religious Minority who are Victims of
Mass crimes is a Result of the Abject
Failure of the Indian Criminal
Justice System as a Whole that
gets further Bogged down by
Institutionalised Discrimination
(Demonisation) when it comes to
the Minorities

17. Institutionalised Discrimination
 Underrepresentation: Politics and Bureaucracy
The Muslim Community also faces the acute
problem of being under represented in
electoral rolls and within the structures of
Political Parties at all levels. Within the IAS,
IPS and IFS too the percentage of Muslims
is pathetic.

18. Gujarat 2002 Justice Process –
An Exception
• Report of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
• Monitoring by the Supreme Court
• Witness Protection by CISF to over 500 Witness Survivors, CJP
Secretary Teesta Setalvad and Lawyers Suhel Tirmizi and others
• Amendment in Section 24(8)(2) of the CRPC that gives witness
survivors the right to engage their own lawyers to assist the
Prosecution;
• CJP’s providing sustained legal aid to the Survivors from 2002 to
date;
• HRD Setalvad and CJP being relentlessly targeted by a vindictive
state using the Police to falsely implicate;
• DESPITE this 117 Life Imprisonments and a Historic Day yet to
come: April 15, 2013 when the Protest petition against chief
minister 61 others will be filed.

19. Figures
• Employment in the Government and the Public Sector
Undertakings
• In the 12 states (where the Muslims’ population share is 15.4%) the
Muslims hold a tiny 5.7% government jobs. In the elite cadre
services such as the IAS, IFS and the IPS, the Muslim
representation is dismal- that is 2.2%, 1.6% and 3.0% respectively.
• Participation of Muslim workers in PSUs or with the government is
the least among all SRCs (Socio Religious Communities) and does
not exceed 5 per cent. Among Muslim male workers, less than 6 per
cent are engaged in such work as against more than 10 per cent for
all male workers and 13 per cent for all-Hindu male workers. Even
the shares of OBC and SC/ST workers in such jobs are significantly
higher than that for Muslims.

20. Caste Among the Minorities
• Both Indian Muslims and Christians even after
conversion retain a caste system even if varies
somewhat with the caste system among Hindus. It is
also exclusivist and discriminatory. In 1950 the first
Indian Cabinet passed a resolution keeping out Muslims
Christians Sikhs and Biddhists who are Dalits from the
benefits given to Dalits as a whole. This has been
challenged in the Court.
• Seventy two to seventy six per cent of the Indian Muslim
population is not only poor and deprived but also belongs
to the castes that are called backward castes, Dailits or
tgribals. The issue of accepting this is a live political
issue today.

21. Caste within the Minorities
• Dalit Christians too that constitute about
1.7 per cent of 4 per cent of the Christian
population are poor and deprived.
• Today Dalit Christians and Muslims are
raising the issues together on joint forums

22. Institutionalised Discrimination:
Socio-Economic Denial
• [Muslims in India constitute 13.4% of the population amounting to 138 million.
India has the second largest Muslim population in the world - the first country
being Indonesia. The population of Muslims in India is more than the combined
populations of the 10 major Muslim countries in the Middle East, i.e. Iran, Saudi
arabia, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Oman Kuwait, lebanon and the UAE.]
• Empirical data shows that Muslim men’s work participation rate (48%) is lower than
dalit (53%) males. For Muslim women it is just 9.6%, less than half the dalit women’s
23%. Muslims are less likely to use the public distribution system for food (22%) than
dalits (32%) or vaccinate their children (40%) than dalits (47%).[2]
• The literacy rate among Muslims is 59%, which is below the national average of
65%. Half of the rural Muslim children are illiterate, as are third of urban Muslim
children. One-eighth of Muslim children aged between 6-13 do not attend school.
Only about 65%of Muslim children in the 6-10 age group are enrolled. In the age
group of 11-14, only 35% children are enrolled. An abysmal 1.3% Muslim men in rural
areas, and even lower 0.3% of women reach the graduate level.
• Nearly half of Muslim men between the ages 25-45 are self employed. Compared to
28% dalits and 40% of Hindus. Only 18% are in regular employment (Hindus 25%).

23. Access to Credit
• Access to credit is critical for individuals, households and
firms for consumption, production and investment needs.
Iniquitous access to public and private banking institutions
across Socio-Religious Communities (SRCs) can perpetuate
disparities.
• While the share of Muslims as account holders is satisfactory
at the all-India level, there is a 12 % deficit (compared to the
population share of Muslims) in the 44 minority concentration
districts.
• Further, the amounts sanctioned and disbursed per account
are significantly lower for Muslims. Muslims are suffering from
a double disadvantage - firstly they account for a significantly
small percentage in the amount sanctioned and disbursed and
secondly, their sanctioned & disbursed amount per account is
about one-third compared to the overall ratio.

24. Poverty and Deprivation
• A large proportion of Muslim, SCs/STs and OBCs
households are located in the below Rs.500 expenditure
class.
• It is noteworthy that incidence of poverty among Muslims
in urban areas with a HCR of 38.4 % is the highest,
followed closely at 36.4 % for SCs/STs.
• The urban - rural differential in poverty are the highest
amongst Muslims with 11 percentage points higher
incidence amongst urban Muslims followed by H-OBCs
(5 percentage points). All other SRC groups have a
lower urban-rural differential.

25. The Muslim Condition-India
• Muslims are concentrated in locations with poor infrastructural facilities. This affects
their access to basic services like education, health facilities, transport, etc.
• In both urban and rural areas, the proportion of Muslim households living in pucca
houses is lower than the total population.
• The Census data also suggests that the use of electricity for lighting is less among
Muslims than the all India average.
• About a third of small villages with high concentration of Muslims do not have any
educational institutions.
• There is a scarcity of medical facilities in larger villages with a substantial Muslim
concentration. About 40% of large villages with a substantial Muslim concentration do
not have any medical facilities.
• The availability of piped water, electricity and modern fuel (LPG/electricity) is lower
among Muslims.
• Muslims seem to be at par with SCs/STs and OBCs with respect to house structure
(pucca or not) and slightly better placed regarding toilet facilities. But their position is
poorer than H-Gen for all these parameters.
• Ironically in two fields, SPORTS and CINEMA where there is a borad critereon
of merit, Muslim presence is dominant and Muslim Stars Shine Brightly.
(There are many examples)
The plight of Minorities, Dalits and Adivasis should be a concern for all of India not
just the sections who are affected alone.

26. Muslim Women
Thrice Oppressed
• Muslim Women Face the Tripple Level of Oppression
• By Being Poor
• By Being Muslim
• By Being a Woman
• Indian Muslim Shariat Law has not been codified and due to a refusal of the
Male Dominated Clergy to re-interpret these and ‘outlaw as unIslamic’
practices that have long since been declared illegal in Islamic countries the
Indian Muslim woman faces not just severe socio economic burdens,
illiteracy, lack of access to public health and hygiene and employment but
also severe insecurities due to divorce and polygamy practices.
• Tripple talaq and polygamy are two major practices that result in a continuing
threat to large sections of the Indian Muslim woman.
• Interestingy however the sex ratio is higher among Muslims as also is the
flexibility of divorced Muslim women to marry again and rebuild a life after
divorce.
• Public Mobility is however somewhat restricted as also is the access to
Religious Scriptures and Positions in the Religious Hierarchy. Ion Tamil Nadu
a southern state Muslim women have formed their own Tamil Muslim
women’s jamaat.

27. Problems of Muslim Leadership
• The Indian Muslim Leadership for historic and other reasons has
emerged from the clergy. A strong vibrant modern clkass has
emerged but it is relatively voiceless. One reason is the failure of the
Indian system to deal with this Musli,m, including the media who
does not fit the stereotype, the reluctance OF POLITICAL PARTIES
TO GIVE LEADERSHIP IN THE HANDS OF THOSE Muslims and
Christians who reason for their rights.
• A related reason is also a growing conservatism in the community
that is impacting democratization from within, pulling Muslims into
segregated living areas and schools, affecting women and girls
mobility and introducing a Wahaabi Islam. (that militate against
Indian Sufcui Islam).
• Muslim Women are rising everywhere within democratic struggles
that include the struggle for their rights but Muslim outfits are
uncomfortable with leadership in their hands

28. Solutions, Challenges
• Legal Aid for Minority Community and Survivor Groups to
Pursue and Prosecute Cases of Mass Crime with
Documentation Base of the Same(like Citizens for Justice
and Peace]
• Helpline to accept complaints and cases of Police Atrocities
• New Law that Deals with Targeted and Communal Violence
(Draft prepared by the National Advisory Council-NAC)
• Targeted appointment of Minority Officers in the IAS, IPS
and IFS (Our experience shows that even after passing the
examination, Muslim boys are not recruited—we have filed
cases in Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat)

29. …Solutions, Challenges
• Gender: The Sachar Committee report is not as specific on targeted gender
intervention. Hence it is imperative that that the State plays a role in
ensuring 50 per cent participation no only of Muslims, but Muslim Girls and
Women as there is a problem of adequate participation within the
community in all schemes introduced by government to correct the problem.
It is therefore imperative that the State plays a role in ensuring 50 per cent
participation no only of Muslims, but Muslim Girls and Women as there is a
problem of adequate participation within the community.
• Gender: Credit facilities and skills training for women ought to include
training in a range of trades and businesses and not just in the so-called
traditional female activities of tailoring etc.
• Gender: Credit facilities and skills training for women ought to include
training in a range of trades and businesses and not just in the so-called
traditional female activities of tailoring etc.
• A state level board / structure need to evolved to monitor and channelise the
usage of funds allocated for the minority women at distress. This board
should give special attention for the issues of muslim women under
constitutional rights, and take action against any violation of human rights
for Muslim women.

30. GOI PLANS AFTER SACHAR
committee report (2006)
• Targeted Intervention in for Basic Amenities and
Employment Opportunities in 90 identified
minority Concentration Districts which are
backward in terms of various development
parameters
• Public Sector Banks will open more branches in
Muslim Concentration Areas and loan applications
etc to minority women, minorities etc will be
monitored

31. ….GOI PLANS AFTER SACHAR
committee report (2006)
• Upper Primary Schools will be opened by the Central Government in these
targeted areas with a special emphasis on Girls Schools
• Three scholarships schemes have been introduced by the GOI for minority
students: one for 20,000 students pursuing technical and professional
courses has already come in. Other two yet to be introduced.
• Wakf land, that is Muslim community land haqs also not been used for the
community benefits. Steps to suggest opening access to this resource have
been suggested
• Civil Rights Centres will be opened in all Universities beginning with
Central Universities
• Decision to set up the Equal Opportunities Commission to look into
grievances of discrimination
• Promotion of Diversity and Social Inclusion in Educational Institutions, Work
Places and Living Spaces through an appropriate ‘Diversity Index.’
• A National Data Bank (NDB) and an Autonomopus Assessment and
Monitoring Agency will be soon set up which will analyse the data generated
to generate and suggest appropriate policies to the Government in this
Regard

32. Caution
• Government studies show that in all areas of Indian public life,
especially related to the minorities, government schemes have failed,
and funds allocated lapsed because of the institutionalized prejudice
and corruption. Those schemes that have worked are those that
have sought and accepted strong civil society participation.
• Hence Unless the Government Involves Civil Society Groups in
• The Civil Rights Centres
• The Equal Opportunities Commission
• The Schemes to Disburse Microcredit
• The Efforts to Monitor Diversity Index
Plus Helpline and Legal Aid
The Efforts may well be futile
(Analysis Prepared by Teesta Setalvad, co-editor Communalism Combat and
Secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace)