Bharat

Halal Certificate: Islamic way of money laundering

Published by
Mayank Chaturvedi

Thanks to the findings of the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) regarding the Halal certificate, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is also going to initiate action in this regard, for which the noose is being tightened on the companies giving Halal certificates and the institutions associated with it. The ED has completed its preparations to register a case under the Money Laundering Act against the institutions distributing Halal certificates.

Anti-national activities: 

Money laundering involves hiding financial assets and using them for illegal activities that are against the country. The criminal converts the monetary proceeds obtained from criminal activity into other types of money. This process has led to devastating social consequences. In a way, money laundering provides fuel to drug dealers, terrorists, arms dealers and other criminals to operate and expand their criminal enterprises. Therefore, ED’s entry in this case is very special.

Vegetarian items also become Halal: 

Here, let us understand a little about the word ‘Halal’; Halal is an Arabic word that means ‘permissible’. Halal certified means that the edible product is pure and has been prepared following Islamic law. A product that contains haram ingredients, such as any part of a dead or illegal animal such as a pig or alcohol, cannot be considered Halal certified. The thing to be understood here is that vegetarian products do not contain meat, yet vegetarian products are not considered halal for Muslims. But as soon as some Islamic institutions of India issue a ‘Halal’ certificate, then all these vegetarian items also become halal for every Muslim as per Islamic beliefs.

Unrestrained propaganda: 

On this basis, it can be said that even if the Halal certificate was limited to meat products only, it would have made some sense, but here, it extends to snacks, sweets, cereals, oils, cosmetics, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, nail polish, lipstick. It has also been made mandatory for many products like glasses. There is no separate exemption for those who believe in Islam at the level of rules, under the religious guise of this Halal certificate. Unrestrained propaganda is also being spread among a particular section of society to not use a product which is not certified as Halal by their company whenever a certificate is not given. As a result, the business interests of other communities are suffering huge losses.

Throwing dust in the eyes of the Government of India!

The biggest question in this aspect is that in the name of certifying the purity of what is already pure, this recovery is being done by Islamic institutions in India like Jamiat-Ulama-e-Maharashtra, Halal India Private Limited, Jamiat-Ulama-e-Hind Halal Trust. Halal Certification Services India Private Limited has been doing this for years in the name of issuing Halal certificates prominently. You can imagine how, despite all the Government investigating agencies, in the name of Halal certification, the Government of India, the State Governments and the common industrialists of the country are being tried to ‘throw dust’ in the eyes of the Government of India!

All rules taken for granted: 

What kind of arbitrariness is it that those who do this in the name of a ‘Halal’ certificate have suddenly ignored all the rules which the Government of India and the State Governments have made mandatory for food processing and citizen food safety? That is why today, the voice for immediately stopping this horrible business has been raised from all quarters. This whole game is to forcibly provide employment to Muslims in every company under the guise of a ‘Halal’ certificate and to create an illegal parallel economy. Due to this, the suspicion of promoting terrorism has also been coming up again and again.

Kudos to the Yogi Government: 

Today, questions are being raised about the Muslim organisations distributing Halal certificates because many of them have been found taking all the money and distributing the certificates illegally without doing any investigation. The Yogi Government has to be praised for it was the first to tighten the noose on all the illegal activities related to them. UP STF has till now interrogated many people who are distributing these certificates. In November last year, the Lucknow Police had also registered an FIR, in which there were names of some organisations and people regarding the Halal certificate. The Yogi Government, acting rigidly, had handed over the investigation of the entire episode to the STF. Then as the investigation progressed, on 13 February 2024, ‘four officials’ of the Halal Council of India were arrested in Mumbai.

Income diverted against rules: 

STF found that those distributing the certificates could not clearly explain on what basis they are charging a fee of Rs 10,000 and Rs 1,000 separately for each product for ‘Halal Certificate’. Along with this, no one could say anything about the question of the validity of this certificate. After that, the STF of Uttar Pradesh made many other arrests related to the case and in this game, it is now coming to light that the income earned from distributing Halal certificates has been diverted against the rules in many companies.

Several crores scam: 

The investigation so far has also revealed that many shell companies are linked to each other in this entire episode. This is a scam worth several crores and also a big economic crime worth several crores. For this reason, now the Enforcement Directorate is also going to peep into it. It is preparing to file a case under the Money Laundering Act.

Why 15 per cent domination on 85 per cent? 

India’s majority Hindu community has been demanding from the state governments and the Union Government for a long time that if the number of Muslims in the country is only 15 per cent, then why are the remaining 85 per cent of the population forced to buy goods in the name of ‘Halal’? Here, the presence of ‘Halal’ in non-vegetarian food is understandable as per their religious beliefs, but no company, institution or small shopkeeper or manufacturer of goods should be forced to do so if he has not obtained a ‘Halal’ certificate.

Along with this, allegations are also being made against all those companies that the income received from the Halal certificate is used to nurture terrorism in the country. Now it is good that the ED is going to investigate it in depth. Certainly, with this, the facts will be revealed to the country and the faces of those who have been committing economic or other types of crimes in the name of religion, which have been going on for years in the country, will also be exposed.

Share
Leave a Comment