News Brief

UP Government Imposes Rs 10,000 Daily Fine On Unregistered Madrasas In Muzaffarnagar For Failing To Provide Registration Documents

Nayan Dwivedi

Oct 25, 2023, 01:02 PM | Updated 01:02 PM IST


Representative Image
Representative Image

The education department in Uttar Pradesh has initiated action against madrasas in the Purkaji and Morna blocks of Muzaffarnagar district, calling for the submission of registration documents.

Failure to comply with this request may result in daily fines of Rs 10,000 for operating without the necessary permissions.

Official government documents and informed sources confirm this development, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Block education officer of Purkaji, Jyoti Prakash Tiwari, issued notices on 17 October, stating that actions will be taken against Islamic seminaries if they fail to provide registration and affiliation documents within three days of receiving the notice.

The move is aimed at addressing unregistered madrasas that provide Islamic education to students, contravening laws mandating free and compulsory education for all children.

Shubham Shukla, the basic education officer of Muzaffarnagar, confirmed that block education officers have issued notices to madrasas.

Madrasa owners have been asked to present their registration documents for verification within a specified time frame.

Shukla added that madrasas failing to furnish the necessary documents and continuing operations beyond one month may face a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

Official reports indicate Uttar Pradesh is home to approximately 24,000 madrasas, with 16,000 officially recognised.

Maulana Nazar, vice-president of the state unit of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, deems the notices a violation of the Constitution's guarantee of religious and educational freedom.

Meanwhile, around 4,000 madrasas in Uttar Pradesh are under scrutiny for foreign funding.

A three-member special investigation team established by the state government will assess whether these funds were utilised for illegal activities, such as terrorism or forced religious conversions, with many of these madrasas located along the India-Nepal border.

Nayan Dwivedi is Staff Writer at Swarajya.


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