The continuous persecution of Muslims in India is nothing new, and it is just that the nature and frequency of crime against them in the name of love jihad, Ghar wapsi, radicalisation, terrorism, beef ban etc. has turned more inhuman and brutal day after day. There is a strategically crafted attack going on against Muslims to weaken their will and spirit of living as an equal citizen in this country, even though Muslims lag behind educationally, economically and socially in comparison to any other religious community. Now right-wing parties not only justify hate crime against Muslims, but they also go to the extent of silencing those who try to speak up against such heinous crimes. As a result of which now a large section of Muslim, as well as Non-Muslim society in India, prefers to stay silent while those who carry out such hate crimes against Muslims are accorded with celebrity status.
While liberals, leftists as well as right-wing intellectuals raise concerns about social regressiveness among Muslims through distorted and cherry-picked quotes of B.R.Ambedkar, they tend to forget he also said that “If the Muslims in other countries have undertaken the task of reforming their society and the Muslims of India have refused to do so, it is because the former are free from communal and political clashes with rival communities, while the latter are not.” It is really strange that so many years have passed since India got Independence, but there is no constitutional safeguard available for Muslims against communal and political hate crimes and persecution about which Ambedkar wrote.
In the absence of any constitutional rights which ensures the life and personal liberty against communal hate crimes, we have seen almost all forms of inhuman acts against Muslims belonging to a different gender, age group, economical or social status. We have seen Akhlaque and Pahlu Khan being mob lynched in broad day light, people like Mohammad Afrazul being butchered and burnt in Rajasthan, kids like 15-year-old Ibrahim hanged from tree with 35-year-old Majloom in Jharkhand, kids like 16-year-old Sibtulla Rashidi who was beaten to death then burnt in Asansol, a woman fasting during Ramzan being raped in running train by police personal, 8-year-old in Kathua sedated, gang-raped and then butchered to death by police personal as well as pandit’s inside premises of Mandir, people like Dr.Kafeel who are sent behind bars when they tried to stop poor kids from dying just because he was a Muslim, people like Najeeb who were mob lynched and disappeared from university campus, and we have also seen people like Amir who are sent behind bars for 14 years on various false charges and when they come out of jail they are paid pennies without any formal apology from the police or judiciary.
Three things which are common among all the above cases is the identity of the individual as “Muslim”, the inability of police in stopping these crimes and finally failure of the judiciary in giving justice to those who suffered these hate crimes. The sad part is that rarely people accept these crimes as crimes against people from a particular religion, mostly because if society accepts it, they will have to talk about its solution.
But why have we ignored such an important issue which Ambedkar pointed out so many years back and why Indian academicians, activists, and politicians never took it seriously? In 2014 committee headed by Dr.Amitabh Kundu to review implementation of the Sachar Committee Report, suggested that a law on the lines of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is needed to safeguard the Muslim Community. Suggestions mentioned the fact that, “It has been seen that the members of the Muslim community face similar challenges to that of the SC community, and in certain cases, they are more violent challenges,” and thus they need safeguarding.
Sadly, though the Sachar Committee Reports are referred by activists and politicians both to study caste and other social issues among Muslim society, political discourse upon bringing Special Atrocities Act for safeguarding life and dignity of Muslims was very intentionally ignored by even liberals, left as well as academicians. In recent times Abu Azmi is the only politician who took up this issue but even he was not able to build any consensus on it, in fact, Samajwadi Party (from which he belongs) itself never brought any such bill in state assembly when they were in power in Uttar Pradesh where so many Muslims were killed and displaced during Muzaffarnagar riots. Introduction of Communal Violence Bill by Congress during its last days in power too was a half-hearted attempt to provide safety to Muslims against communal hate crimes. In fact, that bill did more harm to the cause of “Muslims (Prevention of Atrocities) Act” by not addressing the core issues of society at the receiving end. It should must be mentioned that when Communal Violence Bill was introduced in parliament, apart from BJP, left too was against it.
While it is very easy to talk on social issues of Muslims because that makes a person favourite among liberals as well as right-wingers, but no one wants to talk about constitutional empowerment of Muslims in India so that they can live like an equal citizen of this country. Truth is random protests, hashtag trends and Facebook status in solidarity with Asifa and likes of her will not get her justice. Unless and until Muslim do not have “Muslim (Prevention of Atrocities) Act” which ensures their life and dignity, every crime against them will be manipulated as a crime against a particular gender, community, sub-community or tribe.
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