TWO petitions in the Supreme Court have sought a court-monitored probe into the violence in West bengal over the newly-enacted Waqf (Amendment) Act. Fresh incidents of Waqf law-related violence rocked Bhangar area in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on April 14, even as police claimed the law and order situation in the previous riot epicentre of Murshidabad remained largely under control. One PIL was filed by lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha seeking the court to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the cases of violence. Another plea was filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari seeking the constitution of a five-member judicial enquiry commission headed by a former apex court judge to investigate the violence in the State.

 

One of the pleas sought a direction to the state Government to file a report in the top court on the violence aside from the directions for protecting people’s lives and properties. The Calcutta High Court recently ordered the deployment of central forces in violence-hit Murshidabad district. At least three people were killed and hundreds were rendered homeless in communal violence in parts of Murshidabad district, mainly Suti, Samserganj, Dhulian and Jangipur, on April 11 and 12 during protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act.

 

 

MULTIPLE families have launched a protest in a village in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district after they received a notice declaring certain areas in Kattukollai as Waqf property. The families have said they have lived in the area for the last three generations and have submitted a petition to the Vellore District Collector to look into the matter. However, the head of the Masjid in the area, called the Mutawalli administering Waqf properties, has said that the villagers are already aware that the land belongs to the Waqf and that Government records show that the land claimed already was of Waqf in 1954. Around 150 families in Kattukollai village in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore have received a notice from Kilandai Masjid and Hazarath Syed Ali Sultan Sha Dargha from Virinchipuram claiming the land as Waqf. Reportedly, the organisation Hindu Munnani had gathered the villagers who received a notice and filed a petition against it with the Vellore District Collector. Vellore District Collector V R Subbulaxmi, who received the petition from villagers and Hindu Munnani functionaries, said they are inquiring into the matter. Speaking to ANI, a villager said, “Our land is registered, we have paid Water tax, but now we have received notice saying land is Waqf Property. Two hundred families have received notice.”

 

Praveen Kumar, Hindu Munnani Vellore District functionary, said, “Kattukollai village in Anaikattu under Iraivankadu Panchayat around 150 villagers received notice from Syed Ali Masjid at Virnichipuram, which is 4 km away from the village. People have lived in Kattukollai for 4 generations. They have paid tax and EB also. Now, they have received notice saying the land belongs to Waqf property. People claim they thought that the land belongs to the Government. Even one individual applied for Patta (documenting ownership of land), and his Patta was also stopped by Jamaat’s intervention.” The organisation’s functionary claimed that electricity for the villages had been cut off after the notice; however, the Collector had assured the people before that the land belonged to the government. “Even now, electricity has been stopped for a few residents claiming land belongs to Waqf.

 

We met Collector last Thursday, and Collector assured us land belongs to Government and is not Waqf property,” Kumar said. Syed Sadam, the Mutawalli of the Dargah, told ANI, “I have given a notice to the village people in our Waqf. I am claiming as I have all the records that belong to the Waqf, and it shows that from the year 1954 itself in the Government of Tamil Nadu gazette, it has been mentioned that the property belongs to the Waqf. Even the Waqf board has given a performance report in which they mentioned that some properties belong to the Waqf. Sadam is the custodian of the waqf assets and land in the area, and he claims that previous land records show that the place under claim was agricultural land until the 1990s. “They (villagers) themselves know that the property belongs to the masjid. We spoke with those people, and they know it belongs to Masjid. We have spoken to people and told them that they have to pay the land rent to us, not the building rent. They are claiming that they have resided there for the past 4 generations. But as per records, from 1954 till 1990, it was agricultural land, dry land,” he said. Accusing the State Government of not taking any action to stop encroachment of land, and he would be submitting all the records to the State Government and Waqf board too.

 

Even my father has given a petition in Chennai, as well as the district collector in 1991, and they have not taken any steps to that. After that, he tried to stop the illegal registrations there. So far Government has not taken any action,” he added. Meanwhile, BJP MLA C Saraswathi has alleged that the waqf properties have been mismanaged without any proper rules or documents, which leads to only the rich people benefitting from the assets of the religious board. “There are no proper rules and documents in the Waqf Board; we don’t know how it is managed... They don’t even have accounts about the Waqf board property... Only the rich people from the Muslim community benefit from the Waqf properties... There are no benefits for the poor,” she told ANI.

 

 

UNION Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said that the amendments in the Waqf Act were not targeted at the Muslim community and instead were meant to correct “past mistakes”. The Union Minister for Minority Affairs, speaking at a press conference here, said that the intention of the government was to ensure that in India there is no provision for anybody to “forcefully and unilaterally” take away someone’s land. He said that the Waqf law was amended as certain provisions in it gave “unprecedented power and authority to the Waqf Boards”. “This is not targeted at Muslim community. It is to correct mistakes of the past,” he said.

 

Rijiju, who was flanked by Union Minister of State George Kurien and state BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said that following the amendment, “there will be no arbitrary declaration of a land as Waqf property”. His statement comes amid protests by various Muslim groups against the amendment, which have turned violent in some parts of West Bengal. The Waqf Bill, passed by the Parliament, received the assent of the President on April 5. The ruling NDA has strongly defended the legislation as beneficial for minorities, while the opposition has described it as “anti-Muslim”.