The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra Police to not conduct mock drills depicting Muslims as terrorists till the next hearing on February 10, Live Law reported on Monday.
A division bench of Justices Mangesh Patil and SG Chapalgaonkar passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation filed by social worker Sayed Usama. The order was passed on February 3.
In his petition, Usama had argued that mock drills were being conducted by the police during which personnel dress up as men from the Muslim community to play the role of terrorists, according to Bar and Bench. He also alleged they shouted religious slogans as part of the mock drill.
“The conduct of aforesaid mock drills wherein a Muslim community is deliberately shown as ‘terrorist’ by the police authorities and the state clearly shows their bias against Muslim community,” the petitioner said in his plea, according to Live Law. “It sends a message that terrorists have a particular religion and this act of the police amounts to defaming the Muslim community.”
During the hearing on February 3, the bench ordered the state government to apprise the court of any guidelines for holding the mock drills.
It also directed the public prosecutor to take instructions on the matter.
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