NEW DELHI: Terming it a “dangerous conspiracy” to strip Muslims of their religious freedom, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has moved the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
Senior counsel Kapil Sibal mentioned Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind’s petition challenging the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025, before a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna for urgent listing of the matter for hearing.
“All the matters (against the Waqf Amendment Act) will be placed before me in the afternoon. Why are you mentioning it when we have a system in place?” the CJI told Sibal.
As some other lawyers also submitted that they had filed petitions against the Waqf Amendment Act, CJI Khanna told them to wait for him to take a call on listing of these petitions as per norms.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, was passed by the Rajya Sabha during the wee hours of Friday with 128 members voting in favour and 95 opposing it. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill a day before with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it. President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to it on Saturday.
Under the amended law, only self-owned resources can be declared as Waqf after ensuring the inheritance rights of women and children and the DC will determine that land being donated by a Muslim is actually in his ownership.
However, alleging that “this bill is a dangerous conspiracy to strip Muslims of their religious freedom”, Jamiat urged the top court to prevent the law from coming into effect.
The state units of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind will also challenge the constitutional validity of this law in the high courts of their respective states, it said.
In its petition, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind described the amendment as a “direct attack on the country’s Constitution, which not only provides equal rights to its citizens but also grants them complete religious freedom”.
Another Muslim organisation — Samastha Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulama — has also filed in the top court challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, terming it a “blatant intrusion” into the rights of a religious denomination to manage its own affairs in the matter of religion — protected under Article 26 of the Constitution. The amendment would “distort” the religious character of Waqfs while also irreversibly damaging the democratic process in the administration of Waqf and Waqf Boards, it contended.
“The cumulative effect of these provisions will be highly detrimental to Waqfs at large and the Muslim community will be deprived of a large tract of Waqf properties on account of operation of these provisions,” it submitted.
Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and AAP MLA in Delhi Amanatullah Khan have already approached the Supreme Court against amendment to the Waqf law. An NGO — Association for Protection of Civil Rights — has also moved the top court against the Bill. Several other political parties, leaders and Muslim organisations are likely to challenge the amendment.
Jawed — a Lok Sabha MP from Kishanganj, Bihar — alleged that the amended law imposed “arbitrary restrictions” on Waqf properties and their management, undermining the religious autonomy of the Muslim community.
Owaisi contended that the bill took away various protections accorded to Waqfs and Hindu, Jain and Sikh religious and charitable endowments alike. “This diminishing of the protection given to Waqfs while retaining them for religious and charitable endowments of other religions constitutes hostile discrimination against Muslims and is violative of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the grounds of religion,” the AIMIM chief submitted.
Khan alleged, “It curtails the religious and cultural autonomy of Muslims, enables arbitrary executive interference, and undermines minority rights to manage their religious and charitable institutions.”