Nearly 200 Muslims of Shahjahanpur district have been booked by the Uttar Pradesh police for protesting outside the station after a derogatory post against Prophet Muhammad was shared by a Hindu man.
On September 13, the Muslim community was offended after the accused, KK Dixit, allegedly used demeaning language against Prophet Muhammad and the Quran on his Facebook post.
Strongly criticising, several angry Muslims raised slogans outside Sadar Kotwali police station, demanding the immediate arrest of Dixit. The latter was subsequently arrested under sections 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 153A (uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The cases were booked after a few Hindutva groups staged a counter-protest against the arrest of Dixit.
Around 200 Muslims have ben booked under sections 191(2) (rioting), 54 (abettor present when offence is committed), 57 (abetting commission of offence by the public or by more than ten persons), 324(5) (mischief), 126(2) (wrongful restrain), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of BNS and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932.
“We have appealed to the people not to make comments against any caste, religion, or individual on social media. No such posts should be made that may spoil communal harmony. However, our social media monitoring team has made a list of those who have posted or forwarded the derogatory post,” the SP was quoted by PTI.
The community has expressed anger over the recent police action, questioning it as the protest was mostly peaceful.
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