Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: IND33600 Country: India Date: 30 July 2008

Keywords: India – Muslims – Muslim marriages – Marriage registration – Caste system – Tamil Nadu

This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein.

Questions

1. Can a Muslim marriage in India take place in secret? 2. What sort of marriage certificate would be issued in such circumstances? 3. Please provide an update on the operation of the caste system in India and the extent to which a Tamil Muslim from Tamil Nadu would be subjected to discrimination, harassment or ill- treatment on the basis of his caste.

RESPONSE

1. Can a Muslim marriage in India take place in secret? 2. What sort of marriage certificate would be issued in such circumstances?

The US Department of State report for 2007 on religious freedom in India advises that:

There are different personal status laws for the various religious communities, and the legal system accommodates religion-specific laws in matters of marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance. The Government grants a significant amount of autonomy to personal status law boards in crafting these laws. There is a Hindu law, a Christian law, a Parsi law, and a Muslim law – all legally recognized and judicially enforceable. None of these are exempt from national and state level legislative powers and social reform obligations as laid down in the Constitution (US Department of State 2007, International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 – India, September – Attachment 1).

A BBC News article dated 25 October 2007 reported that in February 2006 India’s Supreme Court had, however, said that the states “should bring about legislation to make it mandatory for all marriages to be registered”, and was again insisting that compulsory registration of marriages with government authorities “applies to everyone”. The article reported that the All India Muslim Personal Law Board had commented that there was already a system of registration in place for Muslim marriages, with “[a]ll Muslim ceremonies performed and solemnised by a cleric who keeps a copy of the marriages”. According to the article:

India’s Supreme Court has again insisted that registration of all marriages in the country is compulsory and applies to everyone.

It has ruled that the central and state governments have 90 days to form laws that comply with the directive.

In February 2006 the court said that the states should bring about legislation to make it mandatory for all marriages to be registered.

The move is being opposed by senior members of the Muslim community.

The Supreme Court said that marriage registration must happen regardless of race, creed or religion.

Supporters of the move say it will help to ensure a minimum age for marriage, prevent marriages without the consent of both parties, check bigamy and polygamy and deter people from buying and selling young girls under the guise of marriage.

They say that it would also help women claim alimony in the event of divorce or separation.

Critics say the state is interfering and the law unnecessary.

Millions of marriages go unregistered in India every year.

‘System of registration’

The order was made after it was brought to the court’s attention that so far the new rules have only been made compulsory for Hindu marriages.

The ruling body that governs Muslims in India, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is upset over aspects of the ruling.

“We are not against this ruling. But we already have a system of registration in place,” AIMPLB member Janab Abdur Raheem Qureshi told the BBC.

“All Muslim ceremonies are performed and solemnised by a cleric who keeps a copy of the marriages. If every state government recognised our system then all they have to do is ask the cleric for a copy of the marriage certificate and we would have no objection to that.

“It’s just not physically possible to expect every villager to register their marriage. That will happen only if every state administration is willing to go to every village to register them,” Mr Qureshi said.

At present, a majority of marriages in India are not registered because ceremonies are performed according to religious rites.

This has been widely accepted in the country and divorce petitions filed in the courts until now have accepted religious marriages as legal. Analysts say registering marriages has essentially been an urban phenomenon and married couples usually register only when there is a specific legal requirement, such as obtaining passports or visas (Ray, T. 2007, ‘India wedding registration ruling’, BBC News, 25 October http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7062098.stm – Accessed 27 February 2008 – Attachment 2).

An RRT Research Response prepared in March 2008 provides further detailed information regarding registration of marriage in India (RRT Research & Information 2008, Research Response IND32965, 3 March – Attachment 3).

An RRT Research Response prepared in November 2006 provides information on the celebration of Muslim marriage in India, and cites an article which states that “a proposal in the presence and hearing of two normal males or one normal male and two normal female adults, all Muslims and acceptance of the said proposals at the same time constitute a legal wedding under the Muslim Personal Law” (RRT Country Research 2006, RRT Research Response IND30842, 15 November – Attachment 4).

An undated article on the Legalight website similarly states that:

Marriage or “Nikah” in Islamic law is a contract pure and simple needing no writing and no scared [sic] rites. All that is necessary is offer and acceptance made in the presence and hearing of two male or female witnesses and recording the factum of marriage in the “Nikah” Register maintained in every mosque signed by the parties and attested by witnesses. It is payable to the wife on the dissolution of marriage or death or divorce. In India, there is no need to register the Muslim marriage, as there is no law requiring registration (‘Brief notes on Marriage Laws Relating to Muslims’ undated, Legalight website http://www.legallight.in/muslimsmarriageact.html – Accessed 29 July 2008 – Attachment 5).

Information on “Procedure for Muslim Nikah” on the SurfIndia website also indicates that a valid marriage may take place without the presence of a cleric. The article states that:

Under the Sunni Law, the proposal and acceptance must be made in presence of two males or one male and two female witnesses who are sane, adult and Muslim. Under Shia Law, witnesses are not necessary at the time of marriage (‘Muslim Marriage Acts’ (undated), SurfIndia website http://www.surfindia.com/matrimonials/muslim-marriage-acts.html – Accessed 29 July 2008 – Attachment 6).

Information on the website of the Tamil Nadu Registration Office does not specify what constitutes proof of marriage for a Muslim marriage being registered under the guidelines relating to Special Marriages, but indicates that for registration of a Hindu marriage proof is considered constituted by “Wedding Invitation (or) Temple Marriage Receipts (or) Any proof of marriage solemnization” (‘Marriage – Marriage Registration’ (undated), Government of Tamil Nadu Registration Department website http://www.tnreginet.net/english/tel02.asp – Accessed 18 April 2008 – Attachment 7).

3. Please provide an update on the operation of the caste system in India and the extent to which a Tamil Muslim from Tamil Nadu would be subjected to discrimination, harassment or ill-treatment on the basis of his caste. US Department of State’s background note on India, issued in October 2007, made the following observations on caste and religion as “determinants of social and political organization”:

Religion, caste, and language are major determinants of social and political organization in India today. However, with more job opportunities in the private sector and better chances of upward social mobility, India has begun a quiet social transformation in this area. The government has recognized 18 official languages; Hindi, the national language, is the most widely spoken, although English is a national lingua franca. Although 81% of its people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 138 million Muslims – one of the world’s largest Muslim populations. The population also includes Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis.

The Hindu caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient Sanskrit sources divide society into four major categories, priests (Brahmin), warriors (Kshatriya), traders (Vaishya) and farmers/laborers (Shudra). Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and those once known as “untouchables.” In reality, Indian society is divided into thousands of jatis – local, endogamous groups based on occupation – and organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution. Discrimination based on caste is officially illegal, but remains prevalent, especially in rural areas. Nevertheless, the government has made strong efforts to minimize the importance of caste through active affirmative action and social policies. Moreover, caste has been diluted if not subsumed in the economically prosperous and heterogeneous cities, where an increasing percentage of India’s population lives. In the countryside, expanding education, land reform and economic opportunity through access to information, communication, transport, and credit have lessened the harshest elements of the caste system (US Department of State 2007, Background Note – India, October – Attachment 8).

In its 2007 report on religious freedom in India, the US Department of State noted that some Dalits who sought to escape discrimination by converting from the Hindu religion have nevertheless “encountered hostility and backlash from upper castes”. The report observed that “caste is a complex issue entrenched in society and the Government has taken steps to address it” (US Department of State 2007, International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 – India, September – Attachment 1).

The US Department of State’s report on human rights in India in 2007 noted allegations that “caste violence was on the increase”. According to the report:

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act lists offenses against disadvantaged persons and prescribes stiff penalties for offenders; however, the Act had only a modest effect in curbing abuse, and there were very few convictions. Human rights NGOs alleged that caste violence was on the increase. Caste violence was especially pronounced in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh (US Department of State 2008, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 – India, March – Attachment 9).

The Sachar Committee Report on Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India, released in November 2006, made the following observations regarding the social structure of Muslims in India and the parity of that structure with the Hindu caste system: Sociological studies on the social structure of Muslims in India have emphasized on the presence of descent based social stratification among them. Features of the Hindu caste system, such as hierarchical ordering of social groups, endogamy and hereditary occupation have been found to be amply present among the Indian Muslims as well. The Census of India, 1901 listed 133 social groups wholly or partially Muslim. The present day Muslim Society in India is divided into four major groups: (i) the Ashrafs who trace their origins to foreign lands such as Arabia, Persia, Turkistan or Afghanistan, (ii) the upper caste Hindus who converted to Islam, (iii) the middle caste converts whose occupations are ritually clean, (iv) the converts from the erstwhile untouchable castes, Bhangi (scavenger), Mehtar (sweeper), Chamar (tanner), Dom and so on.

These four groups are usually placed into two broad categories, namely, ‘ashraf’ and ‘ajlaf’. The former, meaning noble, includes all Muslims of foreign blood and converts from higher castes. While ‘ajlaf’ meaning degraded or unholy, embraces the ritually clean occupational groups and low ranking converts...

Muslim groups currently bracketed under the category ‘OBC’ [Other Backward Classes] come essentially from the non-ashraf section of the Muslim population. They are the converts from the middle and lower caste Hindus and are identified with their traditional occupation...

Since the Constitutional (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, popularly known as the Presidential Order (1950), restricts the SC status only to Hindu groups having ‘unclean’ occupations, their non-Hindu equivalents have been bracketed with the middle caste converts and declared OBC. Thus, the OBCs among Muslims constitute two broad categories. The halalkhors, helas, lalbegis or bhangis (scavengers), dhobis (washermen), nais or hajjams (barbers), chiks (butchers), faqirs (beggars) etc belonging to the ‘Arzals’ are the ‘untouchable converts’ to Islam that have found their way in the OBC list. The momins or julahas (weavers), darzi or idiris (tailors), rayeens or kunjaras (vegetable sellers) are Ajlafs or converts from ‘clean’ occupational castes. Thus, one can discern three groups among Muslims: (1) those without any social disabilities, the ashrafs; (2) those equivalent to Hindu OBCs, the ajlafs, and (3) those equivalent to Hindu SCs, the arzals. Those who are referred to as Muslim OBCs combine (2) and (3) (‘The Muslim OBCs and Affirmative Action’ 2006, source: Outlook India, 11 December – Attachment 10).

An article dated 9 March 2007, sourced from the Indian Express, referred to the abovementioned Sachar Committee Report and noted that the report “highlights the caste-like divisions” among Muslims in India. According to the article:

In independent India, over the last nearly six decades, the Muslim question has remained trapped in the past, locked in memories of Partition and communal violence. Everything has revolved around issues of identity. Against this, the Sachar Committee analyses and articulates the Muslim question in a very different language, a language that shifts the discourse on Muslims from ‘identity’ to ‘development’.

How does it do so? It does so by using categories that classify and divide the Muslims on the basis of their social and economic status. It identifies the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) among the Muslims and distinguishes their position in Indian society from the so-called general category Muslims. It highlights the caste-like divisions among them, the Ashrafs, the Ajlafs, and the Arzals. It also argues for the listing of Arzals, the “ex-untouchables” among them, as Scheduled Castes along with similar categories from the Hindus, Sikhs and the Neo- Buddhists.

Such a classificatory system has the potential of transforming the state’s approach towards Muslims in a fundamental way. From communities with specific cultural histories and self- identities with clearly demarcated boundaries, the Muslims of India are transformed into a population, identified and described through a language that primarily belongs to the state. This language of classification then also makes them available to the development agencies for an engagement that is different from the old terms of identity and recognition. Not only that, the Sachar Committee Report will also generate a new mode of mobilisation among the different Muslim communities of India and provide them with a new language with which they can engage with the state. The question of citizenship thus begins to take priority over questions of identity.

Understandably, not everyone even within the Muslim community will be happy with such a shift. But for the Left and the CPM, the Muslim question has become a question of social justice. They can now engage with them on terms that they feel comfortable with (Jodhka, S.S. 2007, ‘Muslim, in other words’, Indian Express, 9 March – Attachment 11).

An article dated 22 May 2007 in the Times of India reported that a proposal to extend reservation benefits to Christians and Muslims had incurred criticism for “inserting caste in religions which don’t recognise it”. The article reports that:

National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities has backed the demand for extending reservation benefits to Dalit converts to Christianity and Islam in what can spell another challenge for the quota-battered Manmohan Singh regime.

The panel has said that a clause in Constitution (SCs) Order of 1950, which restricts the SC net to Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists, should be dropped to delink SC status from religion.

The sensitive recommendation, however, has met with a strong dissenting note from the panel’s member secretary Asha Das, who argued that extending SC status to Christians and Muslims would amount to inserting caste in religions which don’t recognise it. She has questioned the propriety of Parliament or judiciary to change the tenets of religion (‘Panel wants SC status for Dalit converts’ 2007, Times of India, 22 May – Attachment 12).

An article of 23 May 2007 from Times of India reports on a suggested Constitutional amendment “delinking” Scheduled Caste status from religion. According to the article:

Seeking to extend the scheduled caste status for those in minority communities, the National Commission for Linguistic and Religious Minorities is understood to have suggested a Constitutional amendment to completely delink such a status from religion.

In the report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, the commission has suggested that Para 3 of the Constitution (scheduled castes) order 1950, which originally restricted the scheduled caste net to Hindus and later opened it to Sikhs and Buddhists, thus still excluding from its purview the Muslims, Christians, Jains and Parsis should be wholly deleted, sources said.

Contending that caste is a totally social concept in India and does not have any religious basis, it is understood to have said that appropriate action should be taken so as to completely delink the scheduled caste status from religion and make the scheduled castes net fully religion- neutral like that of the scheduled tribes.

The commission, headed by Justice Ranganath Misra, is understood to have said that all those groups and classes among the Muslims and Christians whose counterparts among the Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists are included in the Central or state scheduled castes list should also be covered by the scheduled castes net. If any such group or class among the Muslims and Christians etc is now included in an OBC list, it should also be deleted from there while transferring it to the Scheduled Castes.

Placing the same persons in the scheduled caste list if they are Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhist but in the OBC list if they follow any other religion – which is the case in many states – clearly amounts to religion-based discrimination, the report is understood to have said.

It contended that among the Muslims of India, the concepts of ‘Zat’ (caste), ‘Arzal’ (lower castes) are very much in practise and even the Muslim law of marriage recognises the doctrine of Kufw – parity in marriage between the two parties.

The commission has further recommended that as the constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and religious freedom as a fundamental right, once a person has been included in a Scheduled Caste list a wilful change of religion on his part should not affect adversely his or her scheduled caste status (‘Report seeks delinking SC status from religious basis’ 2007, Times of India, 22 May – Attachment 13).

An article dated 20 June 2007 in The Telegraph reported that a fatwa had been issued against classifying Muslims into castes, the fatwa stating that to do so was “improper under the Shariat”:

Islamic seminaries in Andhra Pradesh have issued a fatwa against classifying Muslims into castes for providing reservation.

The advisory stands in sharp contrast with the bloodshed in Rajasthan where Gujjars went on the rampage demanding scheduled tribe status that allows more benefits.

The fatwa came in the middle of a drive by the Congress government in Andhra to implement caste-based reservation for Muslims in education and jobs.

Six powerful seminaries, which have influence among at least two thirds of the 68 lakh Muslims in the state, have said that all are equal in Islam and there is no caste system.

“Muslims all over the world are equal. There is no distinction of caste, colour or race among them. Therefore, creating distinction for reservations is improper under the Shariat,” said the fatwa from Jamia Nizamia, the 125-year-old Islamic university based in Hyderabad.

“Islam has no caste system and the government’s move is nothing but an attempt to divide Muslims,” said Moulana Hameeduddin Auqil Hussami, the chief priest of the Mecca Mosque, the scene of a bomb carnage last month.

The copies of the fatwa were released at a media conference addressed by leaders of Muslim United Action Committee, made of half-a-dozen religious, political and social organisations that had sought the opinion of the seminaries. Hussami is the convener of the committee.

The clerics said reservations should be provided to Muslims who are socially, economically and educationally backward without dividing them on the basis of any caste or “biradaries”.

The Andhra government is going ahead with a plan to introduce 4 per cent caste-based quotas for Muslims after the original 5 per cent religious reservation ran into legal hurdles. Religion- based quotas are not permitted under the Constitution. Besides, the 5 per cent quota exceeded the overall 50 per cent limit. The government could have got around the problem by announcing quotas for only the socially backward Muslims – Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have done so. But a perceived attempt to favour some groups which support the Congress prompted the government to promise quotas to 13 “sub-castes” in the community. A committee last week identified the sub-castes, which include Siddis, Sheikhs, Labbi Qureshis and Borewalas (‘Fatwa against caste quotas’ 2007, The Telegraph, 20 June – Attachment 14).

A report from Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst dated 1 December 2007 made the following observations regarding the Indian Muslim community and social change:

Much of the social progress achieved in recent years by Dalits and lower Hindu castes has been the result of policies of positive discrimination (affirmative action) pursued on their behalf in education and public employment. But the Indian constitution’s firm stance against religious discrimination, and bringing religion into political matters, has meant Muslims have benefitted less from such affirmative policies.

... [A] more significant problem has come from local Indian reactions to manifestations of Indian Muslim prosperity derived from Gulf connections. In particular, along India’s west coast, a considerable number of Muslims who have financially prospered in the Gulf have begun to celebrate their new-found wealth in time-honoured ways, such as founding mosques and madrassahs, as well as adopting more rigorous Islamic social codes such as wearing the burkha.

The visible Islamisation of social life in the southwestern state of Kerala in recent years, for example, has been remarkable. Given the separation between religion and politics in India, such activities need not carry political implications. However, they have brought often fierce reactions from non-Muslim members of local societies, jealous of the prosperity of others and disturbed at seeing previous social hierarchies overturned.

... At partition, the Indian Muslim community lost a large part of its old elite to Pakistan and its subsequent social progress has not been particularly distinguished. Muslims are disproportionately represented among poor, illiterate and underprivileged people in Indian society.

Although comprising 13.9 per cent of the general population, they hold only 4.3 per cent of posts in the elite administrative services, seven per cent of those in the police and two per cent of those in the military. Compared even to Dalits (the lowest Hindu caste), their position is weak. For example, only 3.8 per cent of Muslims possess university degrees (compared to 4.3 per cent among Dalits) and 41 per cent are illiterate (compared to 35 per cent of Dalits) (‘India’s evolving Muslim community’ 2007, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, 1 December – Attachment 15).

An article dated 25 January 2008, sourced from the Indo-Asian News Service, reported the Supreme Court’s response to a plea “seeking the Schedule Castes status for ‘low-caste’ Muslims of Maharashtra” as follows:

The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the Union government on a plea seeking the Schedule Castes status for ‘low-caste’ Muslims of Maharashtra, engaged in menial professions like shoe-making, meat slaughtering or scavenging.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan issued the notice on a joint plea by the All Maharashtra Khatik Association and others who also sought the annulment of the Constitution (Schedule Castes) Order, 1950, on the ground that it has determined the Schedule Castes only among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists despite the Constitution envisaging no discrimination on the grounds of religion.

The bench, which also included Justice R.V. Raveendran, however, did not entertain the plea for annulment of the 1950 constitutional order of the president and refused to issue any notice on it.

Counsel Mushtaq Ahmed, appearing for the petitioner, argued before the court that low-caste Muslims, engaged in menial professions were originally low-caste Hindus, who converted to Islam ages ago owing to various prevalent social factors.

Despite converting to a different religion, they carried on with their earlier professions and continued to be social outcastes, Ahmed said. They were, therefore, at par with their Hindu counterparts in terms of social and educational backwardness.

Ahmed told the court that the president’s 1950 constitutional order, which refused to recognise them as schedule castes, deprived them of the government’s efforts aimed at the uplift of their Hindu counterparts.

The counsel pointed out that the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by former chief justice Ranganath Mishra had recommended the Scheduled Castes status for Dalit Muslims (‘Centre gets notice over Scheduled Castes status for Dalit Muslims’ 2008, Indo-Asian News Service, 25 January – Attachment 16).

A report from Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst dated 11 March 2008 included the following comments regarding the Indian Muslim community:

[C]ommunal tensions over the past 15 years have affected the internal dynamics of the country’s Muslim community. In particular, its long-standing commitment to secular politics has come under increasing pressure from desires to bring religious identity more directly into the political domain. These desires have been stimulated by military repression and stalemate over the fate of Muslim-majority Kashmir, the rise of Islamic cultural assertiveness in the neighbouring Middle East and recognition of some of secularism’s failures within the Indian state. Although gaining protection for their religion, Muslims have enjoyed few other benefits in ‘secular’ India. They are disproportionately poor and ill-educated – virtually on the same level as the lowest Hindu castes. They are also heavily under-represented, from the army to the civil service. Moreover, they are constitutionally disadvantaged in that religion – their mark of ‘difference’ – is not recognised as a legitimate criterion for affirmative action programmes in the same way that caste is within the Hindu community. ... Outlook The forthcoming election season is likely to offer Indian Muslims few certainties and several difficult choices in terms of which regional and national parties can offer them a political place. The revival of Hindu nationalist themes could see a return to the violent confrontations and attempted pogroms of the early 1990s, this time with a stronger domestic base of Islamist militancy to wreak a potentially more terrible revenge. However, politics will most likely diffuse along a series of different regional axes with the majority of Muslims seeking to protect the bases of secularism by alliances with social constituencies among the majority population. Indeed, the majority of Indian Muslims still cleave to the secularist path and are likely to resist any resurgence of Hindu nationalism by strengthening the secular parties opposed to it. But with their increasing alienation from the OBCs, it is no longer very obvious where such constituencies sympathetic to their cause might be found (‘Indian Muslims’ gradual alienation’ 2008, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, 11 March – Attachment 17).

An article dated 8 July 2008, sourced from Indo-Asian News Service, reported on a recent protest by Dalit Muslims in Bihar about the “most developed caste among Muslims in Bihar” having been declared a “backward caste”:

Dalit muslims in Bihar, protesting the decision to declare powerful upper caste Mallick muslims as backward, threatened Monday a statewide agitation and a legal challenge to the government decision.

Dalit muslim leader Daud Rayeen, also president of the newly-formed Federation for Minorities Rights, said: ‘It was a historical wrong by the state government to declare Mallicks as a backward caste’.

Rayeen blamed ‘some influential Muslims close to the power centre in the state’ for misinforming the government in this regard. ‘It was manipulated and managed by using false facts....’

Several hundred dalit muslims staged a daylong protest here against the government decision and demanded that the Mallicks be withdrawn from the backward caste list. The protesters belonged to various dalit muslim groups.

Federation vice president Irshadul Haque told IANS that the federation plans to file a Public Interest Litigation in Patna High Court to challenge the government decision. ‘We will seek the court intervention for justice to protect the rights of dalit muslims,’ he said.

‘It will cost (Bihar chief minister) Nitish Kumar heavily during elections because the numbers of dalit muslims are much more than Mallicks... this decision has already angered dalit muslims,’ said Firoz Mansuri, a dalit muslim leader.

Mallicks are regarded as the most developed caste among Muslims in Bihar. They are educationally, economically and socially second to none including other upper caste Muslims like Syed, Khan, and Shaikh.

Mallicks are mostly spread in about 50-odd village of the districts of Patna, Jehanabad, Gaya, Nawada, Jamui, Munger and Nalanda, which is chief minister Nitish Kumar’s home district. In urban centres of these districts, too, they have a sizeable population (‘Dalit Muslims in Bihar protest declaration of upper caste as backward’ 2008, Indo-Asian News Service, 8 July – Attachment 18).

An RRT Research Response prepared in October 2007 includes detailed information regarding relations between Tamils and Hindus in Tamil Nadu and other states of India (RRT Research & Information 2007, Research Response IND32370, 10 October – Attachment 19).

List of Sources Consulted

Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports Government of India http://www.india.gov.in/howdo/index.php UK Home Office http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ US Department of State http://www.state.gov/ Non-Government Organisations Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org Asian Centre for Human Rights website http://www.achrweb.org/ Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/ International News & Politics BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk Times of India website www.timesofindia.com Topic Specific Links Search Engines Copernic http://www.copernic.com/

Databases:

FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIAC Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Research & Information database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) MRT-RRT Library Catalogue

List of Attachments

1. US Department of State 2007, International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 – India, September.

2. Ray, T. 2007, ‘India wedding registration ruling’, BBC News, 25 October http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7062098.stm – Accessed 27 February 2008.

3. RRT Research & Information 2008, Research Response IND32965, 3 March.

4. RRT Country Research 2006, RRT Research Response IND30842, 15 November.

5. ‘Brief notes on Marriage Laws Relating to Muslims’ undated, Legalight website http://www.legallight.in/muslimsmarriageact.html – Accessed 29 July 2008.

6. ‘Muslim Marriage Acts’ (undated), SurfIndia website http://www.surfindia.com/matrimonials/muslim-marriage-acts.html – Accessed 29 July 2008.

7. ‘Marriage – Marriage Registration’ (undated), Government of Tamil Nadu Registration Department website http://www.tnreginet.net/english/tel02.asp – Accessed 18 April 2008.

8. US Department of State 2007, Background Note – India, October. (CISNET India CX196075)

9. US Department of State 2008, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007 – India, March.

10. ‘The Muslim OBCs and Affirmative Action’ 2006, source: Outlook India, 11 December. (CISNET India CX166275)

11. Jodhka, S.S. 2007, ‘Muslim, in other words’, Indian Express, 9 March. (CISNET India CX173265)

12. ‘Panel wants SC status for Dalit converts’ 2007, Times of India, 22 May. (CX177736)

13. ‘Report seeks delinking SC status from religious basis’ 2007, Times of India, 22 May. (CISNET India CX177734)

14. ‘Fatwa against caste quotas’ 2007, The Telegraph, 20 June. (CISNET India CX179588)

15. ‘India’s evolving Muslim community’ 2007, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, 1 December. (CISNET India CX196432)

16. ‘Centre gets notice over Scheduled Castes status for Dalit Muslims’ 2008, Indo-Asian News Service, 25 January. (CISNET India CX192408)

17. ‘Indian Muslims’ gradual alienation’ 2008, Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst, 11 March. (CISNET India CX196426)

18. ‘Dalit Muslims in Bihar protest declaration of upper caste as backward’ 2008, Indo- Asian News Service, 8 July. (CISNET India CX204621)

19. RRT Research & Information 2007, Research Response IND32370, 10 October.