By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Mumbai: The Urdu Patrakar Sangh, an organization of Urdu journalists, has demanded amendment in Article 103 (A) of CPC to stop hatred against minorities.
At a meeting held at Mumbai’s Khilafat House on 3rd April, the organization demanded that malicious attempts to insult and denigrate minorities on the basis of their faith and religion should also be penalized. The meeting was called to discuss the biased trends in the media with reference to minorities, especially Muslims.
Convener of the organization Sarfaraz Arzoo said there were a number of provisions in the Indian Constitution as well as in existing laws to prevent such attempts. For instance, he said, excesses against Dalits and Adivasis were a crime under the Prevention of Atrocities Act. He said either this act should be extended to cover Muslim minority too or CPC should be amended so that provocative speeches or writings against Muslims could be contained.
Addressing the audience, Markazul Maarif’s representative Maulana Burhanuddin Qasimi elaborated on problems faced by Muslims and complained that media did not pay any attention to socio-economic issues of the community; instead it led campaigns to malign the community. Maulana Burhanuddin Qasimi said media ccould not be held solely responsible for it because this was also the responsibility of the community to repeatedly present their problems. He stressed on the need for close alliance of Muslim youths with media.
Member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board Moonisa Bushra Abidi said media was not impartial with respect to Muslims’ problems. She recalled Shah Bano case, saying that the case was very much publicized in the media but real reasons were ignored. Similar was the case of Imrana of Muzaffarnagar.