The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Friday declared the UP Madrasa Education Board Act 2004 unconstitutional.

The Division Bench of Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi gave this verdict on a petition of Anshuman Singh Rathore, who challenged the constitutional validity of the Act and certain provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2012, said the report.

Declaring the Madrassa Act unconstitutional, the high court ordered the state government to enroll the students studying in the madrassas in other schools.

The BJP Minority Morcha President Basit Ali welcomed the high court decision. He said the court’s decision would help the children move forward.

He further said there should be any change in the conditions of madrassas. Even today, children study in the madrassas sitting on the floor.

Maulana Saif Abbas said they were surprised by the decision of the high court. The Madrasa Act has been made by the government, not by a maulvi (cleric). Now, what will happen to the students and teachers of the madrassa, he asked, adding if necessary, they would approach the higher court.

The new court order came long after the UP government decided to survey the Islamic education institutions in Uttar Pradesh. In October 2023, it also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the funding of Madarsas from abroad.

The SIT team in its report recommended action against more than 8,000 madrasas and alleged that around 80 madrasas in border areas had received foreign funding totaling around Rs100 crore.

The high court in its previous hearings had raised inquiries directed at both the Union of India and the state government regarding the rationale behind operating the Madarsa Board under the purview of the minority department instead of the education department of the state.

Under the Act, madrasas function under the state minority welfare ministry. So it was questioned why madrasa education to be run under the minority welfare department when all the other education institutions including those belonging to other minority communities like Jains, Sikhs, Christians, etc, are run under the Education Ministry.