New Delhi: A close look at the statistics by the National Crime Records Bureau reveals that the number of Muslim prisoners in the jails of almost all the states of India is more than the percentage of the entire Muslim population of those states. However, most of these prisoners are under-trials and not convicted of the crimes they are arrested for.
One of the ETV Bharat correspondents spoke to Naveed Hamid - President of the A.I. Muslim Majlis e Mushawarat - to get clarity and the reason behind these statistics. He said that the main reason for this was a biased mindset and a prejudiced attitude of the police towards the Muslims of the country.
He furthered that several small crimes, most of which have a communal angle, are used as a chance to put the Muslims under trial and then keep them there for as long as possible until they are either convicted or released. He further added that the situation cannot be changed till the bias is eradicated from the police department.
Muhammad Amir, who served 14 years in prison, said that apart from Muslims, there is also a significant amount of prisoners belonging to backward classes in the jails. "But most of these prisoners are not even convicted of their crimes. They are under trials and are kept there for as long as possible without any hurry for conducting their trials," he added.
Advocate Sarwar Mandar said that for the last seven years, certain laws have been enacted in which only Muslims are being arrested resulting in their misguided dominance in the prisoner statistics.
On the other hand, Kaleem Ul Hafeez - the President of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen Delhi - said that earlier the Congress had put Muslims in jails by enacting laws like TADA and POTA, whereas the present government is doing the same under other acts like the UAPA and NSA.
According to the 2011 census, Muslims make up 34% of the population in Assam, whereas 47.5% of the prisoners here are Muslims.
Gujarat has a Muslim population of 10% and about 27% of the prisoners under trial since 2017 are Muslims.
Muslims make up to 13% of the population in Karnataka and 22% in jails since 2018.
26.5% of the population in Kerala and 30% in jails there comprise Muslims.
Maharashtra has a Muslim population of 11.5% and its percentage in the jails had reached 36.5% in 2012.
In Rajasthan, the proportion of the Muslim population is 9% while 23% of the under-trial prisoners represent Muslims.
Muslims make up 6% of the population in Tamil Nadu and 11% in prisons.
In Uttar Pradesh, the number of Muslims is 19% while 29% of those in jails are undertrials.
Muslims make up 27% of the population in West Bengal, but in jails, the figure is 36%.
Speaking of Bihar, there are 15% Muslims in the state's population while 17% languish in jails.
However, only in the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, the representation of Hindus in jails is higher. In this state where the Hindu population is 28.5%, in jails, 39.5% are prisoners.
It is peculiar to notice that although the percentage of Muslims in jails is higher among the under-trial prisoners, the same is not observed in the case of convicted prisoners; the proportion there does not have a dominant Muslim representation.
