Hyderabad: Four members of the Tahreek-Farooghe-Islam (TFI) socio-religious organisation were granted bail by a magistrate court in Tripura on November 23. The bail was granted after two weeks of their detention under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
TFI national president and Muslim scholar Qamar Usmani Ghani, national vice-president Qari Asim, national secretary Ihsanul Haque Rezavi, and a member Roshan are the four members who were arrested and sent to jail for 14 days.
Speaking to Maktoob media Mahmood Pracha, the legal advisor of Tahreek-Farooghe-Islam, said that the four of them have been granted bail and walked out of prison on Tuesday.
The four Muslim scholars had travelled to Tripura to see individuals who had been affected by communal violence that had rocked the state last month. On November 4, they were arrested by Tripura police claiming that their lives were under threat. When police took them to the police station, they were told that their visit had created law and order issues in the area.
TFI president Qamar Usmani enroute to the police station recorded and released a video on his Twitter handle informing people about his detention.
The scholars were charged under Indian Penal Code sections 153A (promoting enmity between various groups on the basis of religion, race, or place of birth), 153B (imputations, claims harmful to national integration), 503 (criminal intimidation), and 504 (criminal harassment) (intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of the peace).
A nutshell of Tripura violence
A massive wave of anti-Muslim violence was witnessed a month ago in Tripura which has led to 16 verified incidents of Mosques getting vandalised. Of the same, three Mosques were completely burned down. 27 verified incidents of mob violence and an incident of right-wing groups attacking three houses in Panisagar and molesting women were also reported.
The Tripura violence was supposedly in retaliation to the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh during the Durga Puja period.
In the aftermath of Tripura violence, the state police charged many lawyers, journalists, activists, innocent people, and social media users who spoke out against the violence with UAPA and several sections of the Indian Penal Code.