Centre Extends Ban on Zakir Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation by Five More Years
A Home Ministry notification dated 13 November keeps the IRF an unlawful association under the UAPA; the previous ban was due to end on 14 November.
The Centre has extended its ban on the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), headed by Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, for another five years, ABP Live reported.
The notification
The Union Home Ministry issued the notification on 13 November 2026, declaring the IRF an unlawful association under Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA). The ban in force was due to expire on 14 November 2026.
In the notification, published in the Gazette of India, the ministry said the IRF’s activities are harmful to the country’s security, peace, communal harmony and secular fabric.
Earlier bans
The government first declared the IRF unlawful through a notification dated 17 November 2016 and renewed the ban on 15 November 2021. A tribunal set up under Section 5 of the UAPA upheld those declarations in orders dated 22 May 2017 and 30 March 2022.
The government’s case
The ministry said it believes the IRF and its members, in particular founder and president Zakir Abdul Karim Naik, encourage followers to spread hatred and ill will between religious communities. It described Naik’s speeches as objectionable and divisive, and alleged they could push young people of a particular faith, in India and abroad, towards terrorist activity.
— Legal Desk
Featured image: The Ministry of Home Affairs office as seen from Secretary Kerry’s motorcade in New Delhi by U.S. Department of State from United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources
Related
Nehru Birth Anniversary: PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Kharge Pay Tributes to India’s First Prime Minister
Low Pressure Forms Over Bay of Bengal, Likely to Become a Depression by 15 November: IMD
