Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) has been declared as an ‘unlawful association’ by a one-member tribunal consisting of Justice (Retd) DN Patel. The Ministry of Home Affairs in a notification issued on Wednesday said that the organization has been banned for five years. 

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The notification stated that Islamic preacher, IRF’s Zakir Naik, has been promoting forced conversion of the youth to Islam. 

The Centre had last year constituted an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal (UAPA) to ‘adjudicate whether there is sufficient cause for banning Islamic Research Foundation (IRF)’. 

Naik felf to Malaysia in 2016 when the police lodged a case against him for his anti-national activities. He has been accused of promoting hatred among religious communities through his speeches.

The MHA notification confirmed that the 56-year-old’s speeches were objectionable. He has been praising known terrorists and asking every Muslim to be one, it read.

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The notification added that Naik promoted suicide bombings and posted objectionable comments against Hindus, Hindu Gods and other religions. 

“Naik has also been further inspiring the Muslim youth and terrorists in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts,” added the notification by the MHA.

It stated that the IRF had sympathizers were noticed in Gujarat, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra and Odisha. 

“The material on record before this Tribunal by a senior government officer in sealed cover shows that trustees of IRF and especially Zakir Naik continue to travel to Gulf Countries for the purpose of raising funds and have opened trusts, NGOs, shell companies, all of which are being used for the sole purpose of radicalizing individuals and especially the youth of Muslim community,” the MHA notification said. 

The IRF responded to the UAPA tribunal saying that there ‘ is not an iota of evidence to show that the Foundation has ever indulged in any unlawful activity in the past’. 

“The Foundation also does not have for its objects any unlawful activity or any activity punishable under sections 153 (A) or 153 (B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Foundation is a registered charitable Public Trust and has in its aims and objects, activities which inter-alia promote charitable, educational, moral and socio-economic development, besides establishing schools, orphanages, research and educational institutions, hospitals, etc. and also giving scholarships and educational support to deserving students.”