The district administration in Dehradun, in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, sealed 11 madrasas as it alleged that they were found to have been run without state madrasa board registration, which is not a mandate to run private madrasas, according to Muslim groups, who claim that these are not under the purview of the state government.
Muslim groups held protests in the city, with Muslim Sewa Sangathan president Naeem Qureshi asserting that recognition was not required to operate a madrasa and alleging that the sealing was illegal as no prior notice was issued.
The move comes after a verification drive was conducted in January before the local body elections, and the data from Dehradun was made public, with officials identifying multiple unregistered madrasas across different tehsils, according to The Indian Express.
According to Dehradun District Magistrate Savin Bansal, Sadar Dehradun tehsil had 16 unregistered and eight registered madrasas, Vikasnagar had 34 unregistered and 27 registered ones, Doiwala had one registered and six unregistered madrasas, while Kalsi had a single unregistered madrasa.
Sub-District Magistrate of Vikasnagar tehsil, Vinod Kumar, stated that nine of the sealed madrasas were in Vikasnagar, whereas the remaining two were in Doiwala and Sadar. He mentioned that a report submitted in November had flagged several madrasas for operating without proper registration, after which an inspection was conducted by a team comprising officials from the education, minority welfare, revenue departments, and the police.
Following the inspection, some institutions complied with the registration requirements, whereas others failed to meet the norms, leading to the sealing of nine madrasas in Vikasnagar alone, Kumar added.
After the Dehradun District Magistrate submitted a report highlighting that 57 madrasas in the district were running without registration, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami stated that authorities would investigate the sources of funding and the origins of these institutions.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Madrasa Board chairman Mufti Shamoom Qasmi stated that efforts were being made to integrate madrasa students into the mainstream education system by implementing the NCERT curriculum, while a proposal had been sent to introduce Sanskrit as an optional subject.