Regulating madrasas in national interest, can’t allow creation of silos for minorities, says SC

Observing that secularism meant “live and let live”, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said regulating madrasas was in the national interest as several hundred years of the nation’s composite culture could not be wished away by creating silos for minorities.

The observations came from a Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra during the day-long hearing on the pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court judgment, which declared the 2004 Uttar Pradesh law on madrasas as unconstitutional saying it was violative of the principle of secularism. “The judgment is reserved,” the Bench said at the completion of the arguments. At the outset, the Uttar Pradesh Government, in response to a query of the Bench, said it stood by the Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrasa Education Act, 2004, and was of the view that the Allahabad High Court should not have held the entire law as unconstitutional.

Agreeing to the submissions of senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for litigants opposed to the HC verdict, the CJI said, “Secularism means — live and let live.” Referring to the composite national

culture, the CJI asked the state government, “Is it not in our national interest that you regulate the madrasas? You cannot wish away several hundred years of history of this nation like this. Suppose, we uphold the high court order and the parents of the children still send them to madrasas, then it will just be a silo without any legislative intervention… mainstreaming is the answer to ghettoization.”

It said let India be preserved as a melting pot of cultures and religions. “Religious instructions are there not just for Muslims. These are there for Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, etc. The country ought to be a melting pot of cultures, civilisations and religions. Let us preserve it that way,” the CJI said.

The Bench said Article 28(3) of the Constitution provided that a student could voluntarily obtain religious instructions with the only bar there should be no compulsion.

It asked as to what was wrong with the law recognising madrasas imparting religious instructions and mandating they should follow certain basic standards, and striking down the entire law meant such institutions would remain unregulated.

Secularism means live and let live

Mainstreaming is answer to ghettoisation. The meaning of secularism is live & let live. — SC