ITANAGAR, Nov 1: A petition seeking a notification for Hindus to be classified as minority in eight states has been filed in the Supreme Court (SC). The public interest litigation (PIL), filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, states that Hindus in these eight states have been denied their basic rights, reports DNA.
According to the 2011 Census, Hindus are in monitory in eight states – Lakshadweep (2.5 %), Mizoram (2.75 %), Nagaland (8.75 %), Meghalaya (11.53 %), J&K (28.44 %), Arunachal Pradesh (29 %), Manipur (31.39 %), and Punjab (38.40 %). “But, their minority rights are being siphoned off illegally and arbitrarily to the majority population because neither the Central nor the state governments have notified Hindus as a minority under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act,” the petition stated.
As per a 1993 notification by the Centre, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis were granted minority status in India, and Jains were added to the list in 2014.
