India’s top court has put on hold a lower court’s judgement that virtually abolished madrasas (Islamic schools) in the country’s most populous state, according to lawyers engaged in the case, providing relief to thousands of students and teachers.
The decision comes only days before the country’s national election, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are seeking a third term.
The Supreme Court was responding to a petition to the Allahabad High Court’s March 22 judgement, which struck down a 2004 law governing madrasas in Uttar Pradesh, where one-fifth of the 240 million population is Muslim.
The High Court ruled that the law breached constitutional secularism and ordered that students from these institutions be transferred to regular schools.
“We are of the view that the issues raised in the petitions merit closer reflection,” the Supreme Court declared on Friday, according to news portal Live Law.
The case will now be heard in July, and “everything will remain stayed” until then, attorneys stated. India’s federal election will end in June.
Iftikhar Ahmed Javed, the president of Uttar Pradesh’s madrasa education board, applauded the court’s decision, calling it a “big win.”
“We were really worried regarding the future of about 16 lakh (1.6 million) students and now this order has come as a big relief for all of us,” he said.
Throughout Modi’s ten-year reign, members of his BJP and its affiliates have been accused of anti-Islamic hate speech and vigilantism.
Modi, on the other hand, has denied that minorities face prejudice under his government, which he claims is working for everyone’s benefit.
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