After the arrest of 37 people, an Islamic school demolished in the Indian state of Assam

The authorities of the Indian state of Assam demolished the Quranic Knowledge Center School, after arresting 37 people, including the school’s imam and teachers, allegedly for the school’s links to extremist organizations.

District officials told the media that the school was structurally weak and unsafe for students because its buildings were not built to technical specifications.

They explained that the police conducted a search operation with a detained person claiming that he was linked to an organization as an extremist in the school, and then the process of demolishing the school began, and that the demolition was carried out in accordance with the Disaster Law and the Law on Preventing Unlawful Activities.

The Quranic school is the third Islamic school to be demolished by the Indian government in Assam. In early August, another school was demolished in Morigaon district, and its mufti was arrested because of his “alleged links to the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam in Bangladesh.”

Police said the congregation’s school in Mirabari district – which was closed after the recent arrest of its mufti – was also bulldozed.

A year ago, social media users shared a video clip of Indian police shooting a Muslim at close range in the state of Assam, and they continued to kick and hit the man with sticks while he was lying on the ground, with the participation of one of the photographers, a scene that sparked Arab and Islamic anger, and it followed campaigns to boycott Indian products.

Reports at the time stated that the Indian authorities had expelled thousands of Muslims from the state, and removed their homes on the pretext that they were built on state-owned land.