Jamiat chief Madani questions courts’ role

Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind (JUH) president Maulana Mahmood Madani on Saturday stoked a controversy by questioning the functioning of the judiciary and alleging that “organised efforts” were being made in the country to establish the supremacy of one group. The BJP reacted sharply to the statement, saying it was “divisive and misleading”.

Addressing a meeting of the JUH governing body here, Madani said the notion that courts were working under the pressure of governments had gained traction in the wake of the Babri mosque verdict and many other such decisions. The SC “did not deserve to be called supreme if it didn’t not adhere to its duty”, he said.

He said efforts were on to establish the supremacy of a particular group and making others “legally helpless, socially isolated and economically disgraced and deprived”.“For this, economic boycott, bulldozer action, mob lynching, weakening of Waqf, and negative campaigns against madrassas and Islamic reforms are being carried out in a systematic manner. Their religious identity and existence have been made unnecessary,” he said.