A Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing leader was arrested on Tuesday in Kanpur for an allegedly objectionable post about Prophet Muhammad, reported the Hindustan Times.
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha General Secretary Harshit Srivastava was arrested four days after violence had broken out in Kanpur during a protest against BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s comments about the Prophet.
Sharma made the remarks during a show about the Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute on Times Now on May 26. The party suspended her for “violating its constitution” on Sunday afternoon. India is also facing major diplomatic outrage with at least 18 countries raising objections to her comments.
Following the June 3 violence, the police have been monitoring social media platforms for inflammatory posts. They have booked 13 social media users in connection with their posts, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, reported PTI.
Srivastava has been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.
He has also been booked under Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.
“Anyone trying to disturb peace and harmony would be dealt with sternly,” said Joint Commissioner of Police Anand Prakash Tiwari.
Meanwhile, Kanpur District Magistrate Neha Sharma was on Tuesday replaced by Vishak G Iyer, the chief minister’s office special secretary, reported the Hindustan Times. She has been posted as director of Local Bodies Directorate.
Besides Sharma, the district magistrates of Ballia, Aligarh, Basti, Jalaun, Etawah, Firozabad and Gorakhpur have been transferred.
In the Kanpur violence case, the police have arrested 50 persons, according to the Hindustan Times. Twelve persons were arrested on Tuesday.
Among them is a 16-year-old boy who surrendered after his photo appeared on the posters of the accused persons put up a day earlier, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Pramod Kumar said.
The main accused persons have been identified as Hayat Jaffar Hashmi, Javed Ahmed Khan, Mohammad Rahil and Mohammad Suffian – all associated with a group called Maulana Ali Jauhar Fans Association.
Hashmi is the association’s national president and has six cases pending against him, the police said.
On Sunday, the police formed a Special Investigation Team to look into into the violence.
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