New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday said no coercive steps should be taken against former Rajya Sabha member and Jamiat Ulama i-Hind president Mahmood Madani and office bearers of JUH Halal Trust over a criminal case registered in Uttar Pradesh last year in connection with the ban on halal-certified products.
Advocate MR Shamshad, representing the trust, contended before a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta that the petitioner has been cooperating with the investigation. Shamshad pressed that recently they have issued a notice seeking the personal presence of the trust President Mahmood Madani in connection with the probe. He insisted that Madani was a former Rajya Sabha member and asked why his presence was necessary.
After hearing the submissions, the bench said that no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner and the office bearers in connection with a criminal case lodged by Hazratganj police station in Lucknow on November 17, 2023. The bench also sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government. The trust claimed that it is recognised globally and within the country for carrying an unblemished reputation for Halal certification.
The same bench is already examining two separate petitions filed by Halal India Private Limited, an internationally recognised halal certification provider and Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra. On January 5, the same bench led by Justice Gavai issued notice on a plea challenging the ban imposed on Halal-certified products in Uttar Pradesh. However, the apex court declined to pass any interim order that no coercive action be taken under the notification. The criminal case was lodged a day before the ban was imposed.
The complaint against the Halal Trust and Halal India alleged that the trust was attracting consumers “of a particular religion” to create profits by “fraudulently” providing Halal certification for certain products. The plea filed by Halal India Private Limited said: “It is submitted that the abovementioned Impugned FIR and the Impugned Notification is evidently arbitrary, is targeted towards the religious beliefs of a particular community in the country, infringes upon the fundamental rights guaranteed to the petitioners under Articles 14, 19, 21, 25, 26 and 29 of the Constitution of India and is against the idea of secularism enshrined in the Constitution”.
“It is the Petitioner No. 1 company which caters to the requirements of the followers of Islam by providing halal certifications by following a robust mechanism which is only in accordance with the shariat/Islamic laws, and the halal certified items by the Petitioner No. 1 Company is exported to several countries in the world which has Islam as their state religion”, said the plea.
Read More
