NEW DELHI: Former Supreme Court judge, Justice Markandey Katju, sharply criticised the comments made by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi at the United Nations Human Rights Council that “India was a secular country with no state religion.”
Taking to Facebook, Justice Katju, wrote, “At the U.N. Human Rights Council India claimed it was a secular state with no state religion, and no discrimination on the basis of religion, etc.
“That should also be told to the relatives of Ikhlaque, Pehlu Khan, and a host of others, including the Muslims attacked in Muzaffarnagar, Ballabhgarh, etc and the victims of ‘gau rakshaks’, as well as the Christians of Delhi whose churches were vandalized, and who were attacked in Odisha, etc. It should also be told to Muslims who are denied jobs, houses on rent, etc only because they are Muslims.”
Justice Katju concluded saying it’s ‘not what is written in the Constitution which matters, it is what is practised in society which is relevant.’
India's Secularism pic.twitter.com/vDCjNQGWEO
— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) May 5, 2017
Speaking at the 27th session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group at the UNHCR here, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that the Indian Constitution enshrined various provisions for the protection of the rights and interest of the minorities.
Rohatgi’s comments stand out against the speechifying of the ruling BJP leaders that are pitching to make India a Hindu Rashtra.
The “mob violence” led by Hindutva terrorists posing themselves as cow protectors against the innocent minorities Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Dalits goes from bad to worse in the country.
Rohatgi, who led the Indian delegation at the UN Human Rights Council, said India make no distinction between caste, creed, color or religion of a citizen.
“India is a secular state with no state religion,” he said, adding that the Indian constitution guarantees freedom of religion to every individual.
He said the right to free speech and expression occupies its rightful place in the core of the Indian Constitution.
“We believe in peace, non-violence and upholding human dignity. As such, the concept of torture is completely alien to our culture and it has no place in the governance of the nation,” the Indian delegate said.
PTI inputs