New Delhi: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member, Priyank Kanoongo, claimed to have received complaints that several madrasas in Uttar Pradesh have fraudulently hired teachers. Moreover, he accused the aided madrasas of keeping “Hindu children”.
His reaction came after two judges of the Allahabad High Court differed in their opinion while hearing a writ petition challenging an order of the NHRC, which had directed an enquiry into alleged financial mismanagement and infrastructure deficiencies in hundreds of madrasas across Uttar Pradesh.
Speaking to IANS, Kanoongo mentioned that NHRC had received complaints about 500 madrasas from the Uttar Pradesh Madarsa Board.
“The Commission’s way of functioning is to seek reports on the matter from the concerned government agencies. The complaints we had were directly related to the rights of children’s education,” he said.
Accusing the madrasas for making fraudulent appointments, he said: “We have received complaint that when the entire country was under lockdown during Covid, 308 teachers were appointed in the madrasas, who were not even teachers. This is a clear violation of the rights of those students because fraudulent appointments are being made.”
He further said: “Five to six people from the same family are teachers in the madrasas.”
“I have data which says that a person who is named as the manager in 11 madrasas, is appointed as a teacher in the 12th one. This is fraud,” he added.
Moreover, the NHRC member said: “An ironical thing in Uttar Pradesh is we have been receiving input for many days now that Hindu students have been kept in the state-aided madrasas.”
However, Kangoo urged that the fight for rights should not be viewed from the lens of religion as rights are equal for everyone.
“Rights are equal for both the Hindus and Muslims in the country. We will keep fighting for the rights of people,” he said.
During the proceedings, Justice Sreedharan expressed a prima facie opinion that the NHRC had exceeded its jurisdiction by involving the Economic Offences Wing in matters he suggested did not directly involve human rights.
Beyond the legal merits, the judge reportedly commented on the commission’s inaction regarding incidents of lynching and vigilante violence against the Muslim community.
(IANS)
