Within 24 hours, Muslims has regained their status as minorities in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier on Thrussday, Allahabad High Court bench comprising Justice S N Srivastava had clearly stated that Muslims would not be treated as a religious minority in the state any more.

The court had taken considerations of materials on record includes many census reports such as census of 1951 & 2001. The order had sent shockwaves across political parties in the state.

The ruling Samajwadi party took the court order as a great opportunity for political gains that may pay for the party in the assembly election in the state. The Mulayam Singh government moved to the court against the decision.

On Friday, the two-judge special bench of Allahabad High Court has stayed the Thursday’s order given by the other bench.

Earlier, the High court had accepted a review petition filed by the State Advocate General S M A Kazmi on behalf of the state government.

After the court’s judgment, Kazmi said:

We had gone into challenging the ruling because the court judgment was inconsistent with law. There was no occasion to pass this order. We will get to know if the court was capable to pass such an order in next week.

According to the census 2001, Muslim community (174 million) is largest minority religion in India that constitutes 16.4% of the country’s population. However, some unofficial reports have estimated that it has a far higher figure that had supposedly discounted in the census.

According to a report, Justice K.M. Yusuf, a retired Judge from Calcutta High Court and Chairman of West Bengal Minority Commission, had once said that the real percentage of Muslims in India is at least 20%.

On the other hand, some so-called pro Hindutva organizations say in their reports that the Muslim population has reached 30% in India.

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