Jains not a minority community: HC

By Our Staff Correspondent

JAIPUR, SEPT. 22. A Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court has ruled that Jains do not constitute a minority community and the Jain religion is one of the branches of the Hindu religion. Minority status could not be conferred on a community only on the basis of the number of its followers, the Court held.

The Bench, comprising Mr. Justice Maghraj Kalla and Mr. Justice N.P. Gupta - at the High Court's principal seat in Jodhpur - on Friday set aside a Single-Bench judgment which had directed the State Government last year to grant minority status to the Jain community. The State Government had filed a special appeal in the Division Bench challenging the verdict.

The Court observed that the Jain religion was not fundamentally different from the Hindu religion and conferring minority status on the Jain community would go against the spirit of the Constitution. The family laws applicable to Hindus in the country include Jains and Sikhs in their purview but exclude the Muslim, Christian, Jew and Zoarastrian communities.

The Judges quoted references from the Vedas, Srimad Bhagwat Gita, Swami Vivekananda's writings and Dr. S.Radhakrishnan's books in support of their decision holding Jains to be a part of the Hindu community. The Court said the founder of the Jain religion, Lord Rishabh Deo, was himself a Kshatriya (Hindu) and Jains believed in all the deities worshipped by Hindus.

If each section worshipping separate deities was recognised as a different community, it would lead to fragmentation of society, the judgment held. Minority status could not be granted on the basis of the population figures alone, the Court said adding that the conditions laid down in the Minorities Commission Act, 1992, should also be fulfilled for it.

The Single-Judge Bench of Mr. Justice Rajesh Balia had on September 15 last year declared the Jains to be a minority community while allowing a writ petition moved by the Vijay Shanti Educational Trust. However, the Division Bench said even though the Vijay Shanti Educational Trust had been recognised as a minority institution in Tamil Nadu, that was no ground for extending a similar benefit to it in Rajasthan.

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