Unregistered madrasas in Muzaffarnagar will face a daily penalty of ₹10000: Approximately 24,000 madrasas are reported to exist in Uttar Pradesh, with approximately 8,000 of them lacking official recognition, according to authorities.
The basic education department of Uttar Pradesh has issued a notice, stipulating that unregistered madrasas operating in Muzaffarnagar will be subject to a daily penalty of ₹10,000.
An officer from the basic education department issued the notice to more than a dozen unregistered madrasas, requesting them to provide the necessary documentation.
Officials report that in Uttar Pradesh, there are around 24,000 madrasas, with 16,000 having official recognition and 8,000 operating without recognition.
The madrasas that have received notices must submit their relevant documents within three days or face consequences in accordance with the regulations.
The notice emphasizes that unrecognised madrasas found in operation will incur a daily fine of ₹10,000.
Muzaffarnagar Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Shubham Shukla stated that the district minority department has alerted his office to over a hundred unregistered and unrecognized madrasas in the district, which are not in compliance with established norms.
Expressing strong disapproval of the notice issued to madrasas, the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, an organization representing Indian Muslims, labeled the education department’s directive as “unlawful.”
Maulana Zakir Husain, the secretary of the Uttar Pradesh chapter of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, asserted that these actions target a specific community, subjecting the madrasas to undue harassment. He also highlighted that these institutions provide free education to students and may struggle to afford the ₹10,000 daily fine.
Meanwhile, a senior official in Lucknow revealed that approximately 4,000 madrasas in the state are currently under scrutiny for receiving foreign funds.
The state government has established a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe around 4,000 madrasas, many of which are situated along the Indo-Nepal border. These institutions are suspected of receiving foreign funds, according to the official.
The SIT will investigate whether the funds received by these madrasas were utilized for any unlawful purposes, including activities like terrorism or coercive religious conversion, as per the official’s statement.
