PUNE, India, 3 April 2006 — Muslims in the western Indian industrial town of Thane have demanded that the government dismiss a district education officer for demanding “good conduct undertaking” from two Muslim woman teachers after they sought permission for performing the Haj. Government servants in India need permission to go abroad.
Expressing their outrage over the directive of Lata Sanap, the town’s Muslim leaders in a letter to Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil warned that if no action was taken against the officer, Muslims would resort to a statewide agitation. They said that asking the two teachers to furnish a written undertaking of good conduct for performing a religious duty was a grave matter.
Patil later assured the Muslim leaders that the government would institute an investigation and take appropriate action.
Mohammed Naseem Siddiqui, a former chairman of the state Minorities Commission, said the action of Lata should be condemned strongly and the government should sack her immediately. The demand for an undertaking from the teachers is an outright case of humiliation and Muslims would not tolerate such insults, he said, and added that the pilgrimage to Makkah is one of the pillars of Islam and a Muslim is duty-bound to perform the Haj at least once in a lifetime.
The action of the education officer came under sever criticism from all quarters, including from leading organization of Ulemas. Muslim leaders urged the state’s chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, to intervene and take immediate and serious cognizance of the matter.
Maulana Athal of the Maharashtra Ulema Council (MUC) said no person has the right to sanction an undertaking for Haj pilgrimage and asked for a judicial inquiry. He said Muslims would wait and see what action the government took.
Community leaders were also of the opinion that the two teachers should file a report with the police against the education officer.
Asghar Ali Engineer, human rights activist and head of the Institute of Islamic Studies, called the incident shocking and suggested that Muslims file a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court if the government did not take immediate action. Engineer said such acts created prejudices in the minds of the people and hence the need for immediate action.
Nationalist Congress Party leader and former state Minister for Housing Nawab Malik said he would raise the issue in the state legislature, while Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari promised the teachers justice.
