Congress leaders from the Indian state of Assam have written to India National Commission for Minorities (NCM), urging it to investigate the demolition of a madrasa in Bongaigaon and ensure justice for its 224 students. In a letter to the NCM chairperson, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, the Congress Member of Indian Parliament Abdul Khaleque, and Members of Assam Legislative Assembly, Pradip Sarkar, Abdur Rashid Mondal, Asif Nazar and Abdul Batin Khandakar said that the state government demolished the Markazul Maarif Qurania Madrasa in Bongaigaonin blatant disregard to the rule of law.

The madrasa was razed to the ground on August 31, following an order issued by the Bongaigaon district magistrate on August 30. The order had said that the madrasa did not have the necessary documents for multipurpose activities on a single campus with multiple buildings.The district administration did not give sufficient time to the 224 residential students of the madrasa, who were mostly minors, to vacate the premises. The students had to vacate in the middle of the night, and had no shelter as most of them came from far-off places, the Congress leaders said in the letter. It was also an act of inhumanity towards these students who have been denied the right to education by such an unlawful action, they maintained.

The buildings were demolished by exercising the power conferred upon by the Disaster Management Act, 2005. It is pertinent to mention that the building of the madrasa had permission from the local panchayat and the construction was completed three years ago,the Congress leaders pointed out. In this case, the law has been violated and misused, thus bringing down the building under the garb of safety, they said. The Congress leaders urged the NCM to intervene and investigate the entire matter and ensure justice for the 224 students of the now demolished madrasa. It is to mention here that four madrasas have been demolished in the Assam state since August 04.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP