Two more first information reports were filed on Tuesday against Bharatiya Janata Party’s national spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her comments about Prophet Muhammad.
The Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police Station filed one complaint against Sharma and the Bhiwandi City Police Station in Mumbai filed the other one for hurting religious sentiments.
This first case was lodged on May 28 at the Pydhonie police station in Mumbai.
The BJP leader made the remarks during a show about the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute on Times Now on May 26. A day later, the news channel distanced itself from Sharma’s comments after a huge controversy erupted on social media.
On Tuesday, P Ravindar, sub-inspector of police, cyber crimes, filed a complaint against Sharma saying that she had used “abusive words against Prophet Muhammad” and “maliciously insulted” Islam on television, Live Law reported.
The FIR against Sharma was registered under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 504 (intentional insult with an intent to provoke breach of peace), 505(2) (provoke enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
In Mumbai, the police filed the FIR based on a complaint by Wakas Ahamad Sagir Ahmad Malik, the Bhiwandi city wing joint secretary of Muslim organisation Raza Academy, the Hindustan Times reported.
In his complaint, Malik said that he watched the show after he received a link on WhatsApp and was hurt by Sharma’s comments about Prophet Muhammad and his wife, Senior Police Inspector Chetan Katke told the Hindustan Times.
The FIR was registered under Sections 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups), 153(B) (assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505(II) (statements conducive to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
The first complaint against Sharma was also filed by Raza Academy.
Meanwhile, Sharma blamed Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair for the rape and death threats she has been receiving from social media users as he had shared a video of her remarks on Twitter.
The BJP leader had alleged that the clip tweeted by Zubair is a “heavily edited and selected video” from the debate on Times Now.
However, Zubair rejected the allegations and told Sharma that he was doing his job as a journalist by sharing her comments.
“Police must act against these threats,” he wrote in a tweet. “BUT, that doesn’t retrospectively justify you saying extremely hateful things against religious minorities on live television. If someone is actually triggering hate and violence, it’s you and the channel abetting it, not those reporting on it.”
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