The Allahabad High Court in India’s Uttar Pradesh state has effectively banned Islamic schools and Madrasas by declaring the Madrasa Act of 2004 as unconstitutional.

The Court has ordered the state government to move the students enrolled in the Islamic schools and Madrasas into mainstream schools.

The court in its order has termed the Madarsa Act, 2004, as violative of the principle of Secularism, saying that the Indian state cannot allow the education of Islam, its instructions, prescriptions and philosophies.