West Bengal started serving an unmarked proforma across the madrasas, mosques, and idgahs across the State seeking details of foreign funding source, foreign visitors, and also the distance of the premises from the international border.
The incident sparked an outrage by the madrasa and mosque authorities while a group of human rights activists also submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Director General of Police Siddh Nath Gupta seeking an immediate inquiry into the matter and clarification for such survey.
The said proforma distributed by police in multiple madrasas across districts such as Barrackpore, Birbhum, Malda, Murshidabad, Haroa, North and South 24 Parganas, the authorities of these religious organisations have been asked at least 26 questions under a title ‘Proforma for survey of Madrasah’ or ‘Proforma for survey of mosque/ idgah/ mazar’.
Apart from their name, address with GPS coordination, categorical affiliation, ownership, registration number, photograph of the premises, number of staff and students, these questions include the source of foreign funding, the details of the foreign visitors in the last three years, any foreign exchange programme of students being run currently, and the distance of the prmeises from border areas.
The information regarding any legal dispute over the premises, FIR or chargesheet filed against any staff, and political affiliation of any staff, faculty, or alumni have also been sought in the questionnaires.
The survey is being run by the police and the Department of Minority Affairs of West Bengal. However, what rose concerns among the people and the activists that the proforma does not bear any reference to any related government notification, name of the issuing authority, official stamp, seal, memo or order number, date, or any specific legal provision under which the survey is being conducted.
The staff from several madrasas and mosques also reported that the police served it late at night and also often engaged in heated exchange with the locals. At around 12 a.m. on August 12, a team of police personnel including the inspector of Nimta Police Station in Barrackpore visited the Masjid Baitul Muazzam and a nearby madrasa to serve the form and asked to submit all the details at the police station by next morning, said a staff Jahangir Ali.
In Birbhum’s Lohapir Jama Masjid, three civic volunteers from Nalhati Police Station served the proforma on August 6 for all the mosques and madrasas to one mosque head, Azizur Rahman. “When we objected, they said it is part of a regular survey. We also asked for the government notification, seals, and issuing authority names. They didn’t respond anything but said we must submit all the details within a day. However, we all have decided not to submit it now until they serve a professional proforma with a government notification attached to it,” said Mr. Rahaman.
The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), West Bengal Chapter, has expressed concern over survey forms being handed over to the committees of mosques, madrasas, Idgahs and mazars in different parts of the State.
“Such an exercise, particularly when it involves sensitive information concerning religious institutions, should be carried out only on the basis of a clear and identifiable government order and under a defined legal framework. At present, the copies of the forms available with APCR do not clearly mention any Government Notification, Memo Number, date, issuing authority or specific legal provision under which the information is being sought. The question is therefore simple and legitimate: If these forms have been issued under an official government or police order, why has that order not been made available to the concerned institutions and the public?” said the secretary of APCR, Umar Awais.
The acitivists also expressed their concerns over the purpose of the government to conduct this survey. It stated that hat the statewide survey of madrasas initiated by the Department of Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education is a separate matter. The existence of a government-approved madrasa survey cannot, by itself, establish the authority for every separate police form or for the collection of additional sensitive information.
In their letter to the CM and DG, they also urged to maintain the transparency of such survey in which the government asked a slew of sensitive information. “However, such exercises must be transparent, lawful and non-discriminatory and must not result in profiling or selective targeting of any particular religious community. If this is an official government survey, let the government order be made public. If it is a police initiative, the authorities must clearly state under which law and for what purpose such sensitive information is being collected from religious institutions,” it said.
DG Siddh Nath Gupta did not respond to the calls. However, Birbhum SP Vidit Raj Bhundesh said that he has no knowledge about the survey. The inspector of Nimta Police Station in Barrackpore, Rahul Deb Mondal admitted that he served the proforma to some local madrasas but refused to comment further on the development.
Published – August 15, 2026 04:47 am IST
