• A peaceful demonstration during Friday prayers in Muzaffarnagar led to legal notices accusing Muslims of “inciting the public,” requiring court appearances and hefty bail.
• The Waqf Amendment Bill, viewed as a threat to the autonomy of Muslim charitable boards, has ignited widespread protests.
The demonstration, held during Friday and Eid prayers within mosque compounds in Muzaffarnagar, was entirely peaceful, according to participants. Protesters neither chanted slogans nor congregated in public spaces. Yet authorities have accused them of “disrupting peace” and “inciting the public,” as noted in legal notices reviewed by local news media. Issued under Section 130 of India’s Civil Defence Code, these notices claim that wearing black armbands could “spread misinformation” and potentially disturb public order in the future. Everyone named in the case is required to appear in court on April 16 and submit personal surety bonds worth Rs 2 lakh (approximately $2,400 USD) each.
Among those booked is Naeem Tyagi, the principal of Madrasa Mahmudiya, who insists he did not even wear an armband. “I was inside the madrasa during the prayers. I didn’t wear any black band. Yet I received a notice,” he told local media.
This crackdown has sent ripples of anxiety through several Muslim-majority districts in Uttar Pradesh—including Lucknow, Sambhal, Meerut, Moradabad, Amroha, Rampur, Aligarh, Agra, Bareilly, Firozabad, and Shamli. As tensions mount, security forces have been deployed in sensitive areas. On Thursday, senior police officials, including Muzaffarnagar SSP Satyanarayan Prajapat and the DIG of Saharanpur, led a flag march through key neighbourhoods in an effort to “maintain law and order.”
The protest was sparked by the recently passed Waqf Amendment Bill, which critics argue could drastically undermine the autonomy of Waqf boards—bodies responsible for overseeing Muslim charitable properties such as mosques, graveyards, and schools. Legal experts and civil society groups warn that, combined with heavy-handed policing, such laws could further curtail the rights of India’s Muslim minority, which is already facing increasing marginalisation under the current administration.
Meanwhile, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has vehemently condemned the controversial Waqf amendment bill, declaring a nationwide protest and legal challenge to overturn the “unjust legislation.” The board, an NGO dedicated to protecting Muslim interests in personal law matters, has called on Muslims to act against the amendments. It announced that the board will “lead a nationwide movement against these amendments in coordination with all religious, community-based, and social organisations, and the campaign will continue until the amendments are fully repealed.”
Despite widespread criticism, the Indian Parliament—dominated by the right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP—passed the contentious bill governing Islamic charitable endowments, known as waqf, on Friday. Waqf properties, donated for religious or charitable purposes, include mosques, graveyards, seminaries, orphanages, schools, markets, and vast tracts of land across India.
“The Board will not only take the legal route to challenge these discriminatory and unjust amendments in the Supreme Court but will also employ all democratic and peaceful means of protest, including demonstrations, symbolic protests such as wearing black armbands, roundtable meetings with fellow citizens, and press conferences,” stated the AIMPLB. The organisation further added that in each state’s capital, Muslim community leaders will “offer symbolic arrests” and organise district-level protests, culminating in the submission of memoranda to the President of India and the Home Minister through the respective District Magistrates and Collectors.
