Prophet comment row: Sporadic protests outside mosques across many cities

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Aasha Khosa • 1 Years ago
Muslims protesting outside Delhi's Jamma Masjid after Friday Prayers
Muslims protesting outside Delhi's Jamma Masjid after Friday Prayers

 

New Delhi

Sporadic protests were held by groups of Muslims outside some mosques in  Delhi,  Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata, and Hyderabad in protest against the "insulting remarks" made by the BJP's former spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal against Islam's prophet Muhammad in a television debate.

In Delhi, the protests were held outside Jama Masjid in Old Delhi, while in Saharanpur police had to do a lathi charge to disperse the rioting protestors.

However, Ahmad Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi Jama Masjid, has said he has nothing to do with the demonstrations. He said the management of the mosque had not given any call for a demonstration.

The protesters were demanding the arrest of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal. Both are accused of making illegal remarks on Prophet Muhammad.

The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has denied having issued a call for Bharat Bandh in response to the recent controversy about remarks made by former BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal on Islam’s prophet Muhammad.

The board said the social media posts about this are fake and should not be taken as to have been issued by the AIMPLB.

Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, general secretary of the AIMPLB, said, "People are getting calls from different areas of the country that the board has announced a Bharat Bandh tomorrow. We want to clarify that the board has neither made a statement nor any such decision has been taken.

Besides, no other Muslim group has also made any announcement or given a call for Bharat Bandh. The AIMPLB said in view of this the people must ignore the fake propaganda and not pay any heed to such calls for Bharat Bandh.

Some social media posts that went viral had claimed that on June 10, Friday, a Bandh was being observed in protest against the remarks in the context of Prophet Muhammad. For this reason, senior police officials had been deployed outside mosque areas.