SC gives 4 weeks to Center to grant minority status to Hindus in 9 states

The Supreme Court has asked the Central Government to file a reply to the request to the High Court to transfer the pending petition seeking grant of minority status in 9 states to the High Court. The petition has requested to transfer all the cases related to it to the Supreme Court.The petition has been filed in the Supreme Court requesting that the provisions of the National Commission for Minorities Act be abolished under which minority status is given in the country. It has also been requested that if the law is upheld, then 9 states where Hindus are in minority should be given minority status at the state-wise level so that they get the benefit of minority. Petitions challenging the provision of the National Commission for Minority Act 1992 by filing an application in the Supreme Court, which are pending in the High Court of all the states, have been requested to be transferred to the Supreme Court.

The application filed by BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyaya says that the Central Government has declared Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains as minorities under Section 2 (c) of the Minority Act but it has not declared Jewish Bahá’ís as minority to be done. It has also been said that Hindus are a minority in 9 states of the country but they are not getting the benefit of minority. The petition said that Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur have a minority Hindu population. The petitioner said that being a minority in these states, Hindus should get the benefit of minority, but their benefit is being given to the majority of those states.The petition states that minority words have been given in the constitution. The 2002 Bench of 11 judges of the Supreme Court while interpreting it said that on the basis of linguistic and religion, which would be considered a minority. The petitioner said that states have been recognized on linguistic basis, so the status of minority should be state-wise and not at the level of the country.

In such a situation, on the basis of linguistic and religion, state wise should be the status of minority and it should be considered state wise. In such a situation, after the judgment of the Supreme Court, now the status of minority should be state-wise and it can be at the state level on the basis of language and religion. Even before the Supreme Court had filed an application on behalf of Ashwini Upadhyay, the Supreme Court had refused to hear the case on 20 February 2020 and asked the petitioner to go to the Delhi High Court. The petitioner said that Delhi High Court, Meghalaya High Court, Guwahati High Court have pending cases related to it which should be transferred to the Supreme Court. Different cases may come from having a case in different high courts, in which case the case should be heard in the Supreme Court. The petitioner said that Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 should be declared as non-constitutional under which minority status is given. It has also been requested that Hindus should be given minority status in 9 states.