MUMBAI: Inspector General of Police Abdur Rehman, who was appointed as the head of the investigation wing of the Maharashtra Human Rights Commission earlier this year, resigned on Wednesday protesting passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) by the parliament.
Rahman, a member of the Indian Police Service, has been working for more than twenty-one years at different positions in Maharashtra. He has also authored named “Denial and Depreviation” on the plight of the Muslim community. The book talks about the discrimination faced by Muslims today after Sachar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commission Report.
“The proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 clearly discriminates against people belonging to Muslim community.
The bill is totally unconstitutional and against very basic feature of equality before law… I condemn the bill. As a civil disobedience I’ve decided not to continue in the service and thus not to attain office from tomorrow. I’m quitting the service finally,” Rahman said in a statement released on Twitter.
We have seen the result of the NRC exercise in the state of Assam where 19 lakh people are kept out of the NRC. The exercise had been painful and affected people belonging to Dalits, Tribals, OBCs, Muslims and poors belonging to all communities. They had to spend huge money and run from pillar to post to collect documents to prove their citizenship. If NRC and CAB are implemented jointly, the people belonging to non-Muslim community even if unable to produce their required documents will be declared refugee and will be given Indian citizenship.
This means that the real burden will be only on Muslims to prove their citizenship. This will cause statelessness and hardships to Muslims who have been living in India for thousands of years and majority of them are the original inhabitants of India,” Rahman has said.
“It runs against the “religious pluralism” and “spirit of tolerance” of the Indian nation. If Implemented it will destroy the brotherhood and common fabric among the people,” he has warned.
He also appealed activists to challenge the bill in supreme court. He is expected to clarify his stand before the media on Thursday morning.
Courtesy Indian Express
