Why are the numbers of Peer Mazars increasing in India so rapidly?

If you are a Hindu and have built a temple, ashram, or monastery on the roadside or any other government land, that cannot always stay valid. One day one piece of government paper will come, and that place will be evacuated from you. But if you are a Muslim and are sitting on a roadside or a government land somewhere with a mosque or a tomb building, that place may eventually become legal.

Ironically, this can happens due to the 2013 amendment of the Waqf Act-1995. Using this act, when a Muslim makes an illegal tomb or mosque anywhere and puts an application on the Waqf Board, then the Waqf board handles the rest. It is the reason that today the construction of illegal mosques and mausoleums is going on unabated throughout India. And this construction work is being done to succeed in a conspiracy, which is to capture more and more land. Therefore, voices are being raised against the Waqf Board. In the same series, a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the provisions of the Waqf Act-1995, wherein it has been said that these provisions are discriminatory against the non-Muslims. Therefore these provisions should be scrapped. Social worker Jitendra Singh and five others have filed this petition (951 2020) through Senior Advocate Harishankar Jain.

On this, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, Harishankar Jain, is saying that Section-5 of the Waqf Act 1995 states that all the Islamic Waqf property belonging to Islam has been identified after the survey. But despite this, Waqf property is still increasing day by day. In 2009, the Waqf Board had assets of nearly four lakh acres, which grew to eight lakh acres in the next 11 years i.e. 2020. After partition, the land in the country is the same as it was before. Then how the land of Waqf Board is increasing?? The question is also in front of everyone. The authorities should check the entire Waqf property. In this way, the Waqf Board has the most land after the Railways and Defense Department.

Actually, the word waqf means any donation made for any religious work. This donation can be of money, property, or work. In legal terms, any kind of donation made by a person who believes in Islam for his religion is called Waqf. Apart from this, if any property is being used in Islam’s work for a long time, it can also be considered as Waqf. The term waqf is also used mostly for educational institutions, cemeteries, mosques, and hospices associated with Islam. If someone waqf a property once, it cannot be taken back. The strange thing in this is that even a non-Muslim can donate, but he has to join Islam to use it.

Now here are two boards in it- One is the Sunni Waqf Board, and another is Shia Waqf Board. The properties of the Sunni Waqf Board and Shia Waqf Board are different. It seems that the vote bank politics has given so much strength to the Waqf Board that it has now become a tool to grab land. In 2013, India’s then government, led by UPA, amended the Waqf Act-1995 and gave it such rights, which are pushing for Islam’s path of progression in India. Its section 40 provides that before declaring any property as Waqf property, it is not necessary to inform its owner. Even if a majaar is silently created or 786 written on a place, it can also be declared as Waqf property. Later the real owner may keep fighting the case in the Waqf Council. It is seen that in most cases, the council supports the Waqf Board.

Another thing written in section 52 of this act is that if someone’s land, which is registered in Waqf, is occupied by someone, then the Waqf Board can ask the District Magistrate to get possession of the land back. According to the law, the District Magistrate will get the land back within 30 days. That is, the Waqf Board is sitting on many laws to protect its property, but if the Waqf Board has occupied any land, then it is not easy to take it back.

Think of it in simple words, if the Waqf Board writes your land on its papers, then that property and the property that went to the Waqf cannot be yours. It can also be understood as a kind of black hole; inside it whatever gone is gone.

Its history is such that during British rule, a law was made for the first time on 7 March 1913 to look after the mosque, tomb, cemetery, etc. and Muslims’ religious property. After this, on August 5, 1923, some improvements were made. Even there was no such special thing in them, due to which anyone can have any objection. After this, on 25 July 1930 more provisions were added to it. And then on October 7, 1937, some additions were done and gain on 21 May 1954, it was changed slightly. Some changes were made in 1984 also. On 22 November 1995, it was made more powerful. After this, on 20 September 2013, the limit was exhausted and the board was given immense powers, now those powers are being used to grab land in the country.

This is the reason that there is no problem in legalizing any illegal tomb or mosque. In the last few years, the Waqf Board has occupied the land or house of government or Hindus in many places. Therefore, voice is being raised against the Waqf Board. The filing of this petition is the result of such protests.

Now you will know the conspiracy of waqf board by learning these one or two cases.

It is being told that Maharauli’s ward no. 1 had an old house of a man named Manmohan Malik. About two years ago, he broke that house and started building a new home. One day, an alleged Maulana Mohammad Ikram reached that place and said that the place where you are making a house belongs to the Waqf Board. After this he also called the police and thus, the matter reached the Delhi High Court. However, he allegedly could not produce any paper before the court as per his claim. The court found that Maulana’s claim was false. For this, the court fined Maulana for Rupees 10,000 and gave the decision in favor of Manmohan Malik. The second case is also of Mehrauli. Ward no. In 8, a plot of a person named Bhargava is worth crores of rupees. Its area is of 3,500 yards. He bought this plot from a Muslim in 1987-88. Perhaps this deal was not liked by the Waqf Board. Therefore, the board started describing an old structure in the middle of the plot as a religious site and also tried to capture it several times forcibly. Some time ago, when the plot of the siege began to be laid, the then chairman of Delhi Waqf Board and Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan created a lot of uproar with the crowd of Muslims. Right now this case is pending under the jurisdiction of Delhi High Court. Not only Delhi, but many such cases are also coming up all over India.

For this reason, the petitioners have filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding that several sections of the Waqf Act-1995 be declared unconstitutional. It has been said that these sections violate Articles 14, 15, 25, 26, 27, and 300A of the Constitution. Apart from this, sections 6, 7, 83 of the Waqf Act have also been sought to be repealed.

The petitioners’ best argument is that the Waqf Board has the exclusive right to remove illegal possession from its properties and there is no time limit for that. That is, the Waqf Board can initiate the process of returning its property whenever it wants. But why such exemption has not been given to the managers or servants of religious properties like any Hindu trust, monastery, temple, akhara etc.

The Waqf Board takes the biggest benefit of this. Not only this but these people are also offering Namaz around the historical buildings under the same conspiracy of confiscating lands. For instance, Qutub Minar is under the Archaeological Survey of India; Muslims have started reading Namaz there to capture it in the same way.

Apart from this, to the many years old Hindu Baba’s tomb sites they started to colour green and call with Olia Molia name. Besides many such cases have been reported in which the Waqf Board has claimed on some ground that the human bones are found, this land belongs to them, telling it a cemetery.  So wherever human bones are found, they tell it a Waqf Board’s property. In contrast, it should be known that Hindu ascetics are also given bhuSmadhi in many akharas. Not only this, in many places the forest dwellers, who are Hindus, also give bhuSmadhi to their dead relatives. The dead bodies of small children are not burnt in Hinduism but are buried. There has been a tradition of burying the people who died due to snake bite in many places.

After such exploits have come up, the Waqf Board researchers believe that if the Waqf Board’s rights are not curtailed soon, a large part of India will be occupied by the Waqf Board in the coming few years. Better late than never, but now the matter has reached the Supreme Court. It is expected that the honourable Supreme Court of India will start hearing on this matter early and some concrete steps will be taken towards the curbing habits of the Waqf Board.