New Delhi: The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), acting on a complaint it received against a book included in Darul Uloom Deoband’s curriculum, has written to the district administration of UP’s Saharanpur asking for the text to be removed from the Islamic seminary’s syllabus, the Deccan Herald reported. According to the commission, the book legitimises sex with minors and is in violation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. “The commission is in receipt of a complaint against the fatwas issued by Darul Uloom Deoband. The fatwa references a book titled Bahishti Zewar. The book contains content regarding children that is objectionable, improper and illegal and the book is also alleged to be taught to children in madrasas,” the commission said in a letter to the district commission and senior superintendent of police, Saharanpur on July 14. The commission said that the material should be blocked under section 69A of the IT Act which allows the Union government to ask any of its agencies or an intermediary to block public access to any information generated stored on any computer resource. The child rights body has asked for a copy of all the books prescribed in the syllabus and an ‘action taken’ report from the district administration in four days. This is the commission’s second complaint since January last year when it had written to the administration about the presence of several fatwas on the Darul Uloom’s website, the Deccan Herald report said. NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo said that the book legitimises sexual relations with minors. “By minors, we mean girls who are yet to reach puberty. There are passages that say that men do not have to bathe after such an act to read namaz. There are several such references,” Kanungo told the Deccan Herald.Interestingly, a chapter in the NCERT-prescribed English textbook for Class 11th on child marriage and sexual relations with a minor has gone under the NCPCR’s radar. The chapter, titled Ranga’s Marriage, is about a man in his mid-twenties who marries an 11-year-old and has two children with her before she turns 15. Meanwhile, opposition leader Asaduddin Owaisi has criticised the NCPCR for pushing a soft Hindutva agenda over the past few years, ThePrint had reported. Kanoongo has also been called out for turning the NCPCR’s focus away from ensuring child rights and meddling in political warfare that is outside the commission’s purview.