This Letter was submitted to Sub-Committee on Minorities of the Constituent Assembly of India by Maulana Hifzur Rahman and Abdul Qaiyum Ansari on July 24, 1947
A Letter Written by Raja Mahendra Pratap
We beg to request that the following may kindly be included in the agenda for discussion in the next meeting of the committee:
(i) Whereas the present judicial system in India has never harmonised with the spirit of the Islamic laws, the system of appointing Muslim Kazis to settle the questions of marriage, divorce, Khula etc. be introduced so that they may be decided according to the tenets of Islam.
Note : This system shall be confined to the Muslims only without being pre judicial to the religious rights of non-Muslims.
(ii) A permanent separate portfolio to administer the Muslim waqfs be attached to a Minister of State in each Province and at the Centre and that Minister be a Muslim as far as possible.
Abdul Qaiyum Ansari, who fought not only for independence but also against the social and economic inequalities
(iii) As the protection of cultural rights of minorities in every unit in the Union of India has already been incorporated in the Declaration of Rights by the Constituent Assembly, the Muslim minority can rightly claim for the protection of its cultural rights. Therefore, the High Courts of the Provinces (units) and the Supreme Court of the Union should each have a Muslim judge to judge the propriety of any cultural right coming under the purview of protective laws of the States.
(iv) Educational scholarships, stipends etc. to minorities and grants-in-aid to educational institutions of minorities should not be given according to the proportion of the population of any minority. Such kinds of benefactions ought to be granted in proportion to the backward conditions of the minority concerned, i.e., the greater the backwardness of a minority the greater the grant of benefaction to it.
(Source: The Framing of India’s Constitution: Select Documents published by the Government of India)
