Mumbai, February 12: The Uttar Pradesh STF (Special Task Force) on Monday, February 12, arrested four office bearers of Halal Council of India (Mumbai), including its president, general secretary and treasurer for allegedly extorting money in the name of halal certification. The accused persons have been identified as Maulana Mudassir, Habib Yusuf Patel, Md Anwar Khan and Mohammed Tahir.
The Uttar Pradesh government had in November last year banned "manufacture, sale, storage, and distribution of halal-certified products" in the state. Following the ban, a case was registered in Lucknow against some organisations, production companies, their owners and managers as well as other unidentified people involved in unnecessarily extorting money in the name of halal certification, promoting enmity in the name of religion and also funding different anti-national, separatist and terror outfits.
Earlier today, the apex court extended interim protection from coercive action to Halal India and Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra office bearers. The top court had last month granted protection from any coercive action against Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind Halal Trust chief Mahmood Madani and other office-bearers.
Halal Ban Notification Challenged In Supreme Court:
The notification of the ban and the FIR have been challenged in the Supreme Court. Earlier in January, the top court had issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on two pleas by Halal India Private Limited and Jamiat Ulam e-Hind Halal Trust Maharashtra seeking quashing of the notification.
The petition stated that notification is "arbitrary and based on unreasonable classification", and that manufacture, sale, storage and distribution of halal-certified products were banned with immediate effect in Uttar Pradesh from the view of "public health".
"The notification is manifestly arbitrary as it capriciously excludes only halal certification while other certifications such as Jain, Satvik and even kosher have not been included within the purview of the said notification, indicating that it arbitrarily singles out one certification based on religion which is an impermissible classification," the petition said. (With agency inputs)
