A Meghalaya High Court judge recently came under fire for the Islamophobic remarks he made while disposing of a domicile certificate petition on Monday. Sparking a controversy by claiming that India should have been declared a Hindu state at the time of Partition, Justice Sudip Ranjan Sen invoked the historic era of bloodshed to ask the Modi government to “save this country and its people” from attempts to turn it into an Islamic country.
A lesson in history
Dwelling on the subject of citizenship while delivering his judgement, he observed that it was his duty to project the original India and its partition [sic]”, adding that only this government under Shri Narendra Modiji will understand the gravity” of the situation. He noted that the region was once commanded by a Hindu Kingdom but thereafter the Mughal came to India and captured different parts of India and started ruling the country, and at that point of time many conversion took place by force.
He also said that India, instead of remaining secular, should have declared itself a Hindu country after Partition like Pakistan had declared itself an Islamic country.
On the NRC and immigrants
After the final draft of Assams National Register of Citizens (NRC) announced it would potentially strip 40 lakh people of their citizenship in August, the opposition and the centre have been engaged in a fiery debate over its objectives and motives. While the Centre keeps harping on the fact that only those who could not prove their citizenship, their names have been removed from the list, it does not explain the innumerable accounts of gross inconsistencies that have come to light. Non-disclosure of the reasons has further added to the mass confusion and disbelief.
Calling the ongoing NRC application process defective as many foreigners become Indians and original Indians are left out which is very sad, Justice Sen said that nobody should try to make India … another Islamic country, otherwise it will be a doomsday for India and the world. He further argued for a law which would allow non-Muslim and tribal immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh to live in India without a cut-off year.
Sen further said that he hoped a copy of the judgement would reach the Honble Prime Minister, Honble Home Minister and Honble Law Minister for their perusal and necessary steps to bring a law to safeguard the interest of the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis, Khasis, Jaintias and Garos who have already come to India and who are yet to come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan as well as persons of Indian origin who are residing abroad.
On citizenship
Justice Sen was hearing the petition of Army recruit Amon Rana, who was denied domicile certificate by the Meghalaya government. The judge argued for uniform law for all Indians, and held that anybody opposing the country’s laws and Constitution “cannot be considered a citizen of the country”.
I feel the difficulties faced by the residents to get the domicile certificate and the permanent residence certificate have become a great issue today which will have to be examined since the inception of India (Bharat Barsh), Justice Sen noted.
Besides the NRC, the judge also criticised the Boundary Commission, the panel appointed at the time of Partition to decide on how parts of the subcontinent were to be divided between India and Pakistan. The commission “drew an imaginary line” Justice Sen claimed, adding that it is difficult to understand “which land falls within India and which is in Bangladesh as somebody’s kitchen is in India and their bedroom is in Bangladesh” in his judgement.
“However, I am not against my Muslim brothers and sisters, who are residing in India for generations and abiding Indian laws, they should also be allowed to live peacefully,” the judge said.
His verdict soon became the butt of criticism and outrage, as opposition parties and legal professionals accused him of spreading hate. Asaduddin Owaisi, the Lok Sabha lawmaker from Hyderabad, said, “What sort of judgement is this? Will the judiciary and the government take note of this?”
Former Attorney General, Soli Sorabjee condemned the judge’s decision and said that he didn’t approve of such statements. According to him, a high-ranking judicial figure must maintain the decorum of the court, not make political pronouncements or observations like this before retirement. NDA minister Giriraj Singh, however, seemed to agree with Justice Sen, saying that the “judgment shouldn’t be taken lightly as the warning is important”.
Appointed as the permanent judge of the High Court of Meghalaya on January 7, 2014, Justice S.R. Sen will retire on March 9, 2019 when he turns 62 years. It is worth noting that the chief justice of the Meghalaya High Court is Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, a Kashmiri Muslim.
Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius