Huge ‘spontaneous’ protests broke out across India after Friday prayers on June 10 in response to the government’s indifference to the issue and inaction against the perpetrators of blasphemy.Two teenagerswere shot dead and hundreds rendered injured in excessive use of force in Ranchi. The alleged police brutality directed at Muslim protestors across India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, when police used batons, threw stones and assaulted numerous people before detaining them.
More than 304 persons were arrested so far in UP and buildings were demolished in UP’s Kanpur, Saharanpur and Allahabad. ElevenFIRs were filed in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Hathras, Ambedkar Nagar, Moradabad, Saharanpur and Allahabad. In Saharanpur, two people’s homes were demolished by bulldozers, while bulldozers were also used in Allahabad. Welfare Party of India leader Javed Mohammad, who was not present at the demonstration, had his house razed. The police had earlier arrested Javed, claiming him to be one of the main conspirators in the case, along with his wife Parveen and daughter Sumaiya.
Amid outrage across the Islamic world over the blasphemy issue, protests have erupted across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir, among other places.
Following international criticism, the ruling BJP took action against its officials, suspending Nupur Sharma and expelling Naveen Jindal, but Muslims around the world, including in India are not pleased with this ceremonial action.
Police reportedly used excessive force to quell the protests in several places. Worse, viral videos show police striking unarmed protesters with lathis and air rifles, notably in BJP-ruled states. Mudassir Alam (16) and Sahil alias Afzal (19) both died as a result of their bullet injuries in Ranchi.There is a conflicting version about firing in Ranchi.
The cops used a baton charge before opening fire on Muslims who were peacefully protesting in front of the Kali Mandir on Main Road in Jharkhand’s capital. Due to the possibility of a panic, Hindutva mobs fired bullets from Kali Mandir, killing a young Muslim child on the spot.According to eyewitnesses, Mudassir, a 16-year-old who had gone to protest against Nupur Sharma, was shot at by a Hindutva gang from a Kali temple on Ranchi’s main thoroughfare and died on the spot.
According to unconfirmed accounts on Twitter, one Afsar Alam was injured by six bullets, raising the important question of why the police had to use firing as a tactic to disperse the protestors. Three more people have been badly hurt. In the violence-plagued parts of Ranchi, a curfew has been imposed.
In stark contrast to UP, there was no untoward incident reported and the police also did not use any force in Maharashtra where thousands of Muslims took to the streets in several towns of the state.
Protesters marched calmly on the streets outside mosques, shouting chants against two BJP spokespersons, Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, demanding their arrest and condemning the Union government for inaction.
In fact, sectarian tensions have risen over the issue in Doda, Jammu, and other districts of the erstwhile J&K state. These demonstrations expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s insensitivity and lack of punishment against ruling party leaders who had made insensitive remarks about the last Prophet ﷺduring a television debate.
BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma made disrespectful statements regarding Prophet Muhammad ﷺand Islam during a Times Now debate on May 26. Sharma continued to shout anti-Islam remarks without being halted by television anchor Navika Kumar. The BJP did not suspend Sharma until June 5;it took the action only after widespread condemnation from the Islamic and Arab nations.
DELHI
In the national capital Delhi, people gathered at ShahiJama Masjid in the city after Friday prayers to demand that the offending leaders be arrested. For half an hour, the protest was peaceful. People held signs denouncing the accusations levelled against Prophet Muhammadﷺ. The Jama Masjid’s Shahi Imam told reporters that the management committee had not called for the demonstration.
Rather than prosecuting Nupur Sharma and Jindal, the Delhi Police filed an FIR against 31 people, including AIMIM chairman Asaduddin Owaisi and chronic hate-offender Yati Narsinghanand, and a second case against Nupur Sharma for allegedly injuring religious emotions. To create an equivalent, journalists like Saba Naqvi have been included in one of the FIRs. Saba Naqvi has indicated that she has been targeted selectively, and the Press Club of India has condemned the FIR against her.
ALLAHABAD
Hundreds of Muslims gathered in the Atala neighbourhood of the old city to oppose Sharma’s blasphemous remarks. Shops were also closed, as protesters chanted slogans demanding Sharma’s arrest. The police deployed tear gas to disperse the throng.
SAHARANPUR
The protestors were among the few in the city who were arrested for demanding the prosecution of Sharma and Jindal. Shops were forced to close, and police were seen chasing demonstrators in several videos. The situation is “tight but under control,” police officers told the reporters, despite the fact that they had to use force to disperse the throng.
Similar scenes were seen in a Moradabad neighbourhood as well. A similar uprising occurred in Kanpur last week. However, the protests sparked a communal clash, with at least 36 individuals being arrested under the National Security Act and 500 people being arrested for rioting.
LUCKNOW
Protesters gathered in large numbers outside Tila Vali Mosque in Lucknow to demand Sharma’s arrest and condemn the BJP members’ hatred directed at a certain community.
KANPUR
Earlier on June 3, the previous Friday, the industrial town witnessed the protest which was the first protest against the blasphemy issue in the country.After protestors from the Muslim community battled with police in the late afternoon, violence erupted, leaving at least six people hurt. 500 people were arrested for rioting, according to the police.The city Muslims had closed their shops and taken out a procession in response to an alleged insult to Prophet Muhammadﷺ. Hundreds of protesters had taken to the streets of Kanpur’s Beconganj.
FIROZABAD
As early as June 9, Muslim women in Firozabad launched a protest march demanding stern punishment against Sharma. They presented a memorandum to police officers at the Rasoolpur police station.
RANCHI, JHARKHAND
Protests against the harsh comments became violent in Jharkhand’s capital where two young men died of bullets. The police had to fire in the air to disperse the mob. The mob had gathered around the Hanuman temple, which is located near the city’s main thoroughfare. Vehicles were also set on fire, according to reports.
After the police declined to grant a permit for a peaceful procession, the owners of over 1,100 stores in the market shut their doors and protested, according to a syndicated feed.
The cops apprehended a frightened child, who can be heard saying he doesn’t know anything, as seen in a video uploaded by independent journalist Meer Faisal. Security guards dragged the teen towards other officers, who struck him with lathis. After the terrified teen escaped, another member of the team fired a gunshot into the air.
The video drew a lot of backlash on social media, with people accusing the cops of targeting unarmed Indian citizens.
WEST BENGAL
Huge protests against Sharma and Jindal were reported in West Bengal’s capital city and the Howrah district. As a gesture of protest, boards, effigies, and busts containing images of the two BJP leaders were ripped, damaged or garlanded with chappals. Protesters also stopped the road and chanted anti-communal slogans. Similarly, throngs of people congregated on Kolkata’s streets, including Park Circus and Ballygunge – a fashionable section of the city – to demand Sharma’s immediate arrest.
HYDERABAD
Protests erupted outside the famous Mecca Mosque in Hyderabad on Friday, much like they did in Delhi. Hundreds of people gathered to express their displeasure at Sharma and Jindal’s remarks. The area around the mosque, the Charminar, and the police were blocked off. After around 15 minutes of sloganeering, the throng dispersed. The protests held outside the City Press Club.
MAHARASHTRA
Protests were held across Maharashtra, from Panvel to Solapur. Both towns saw peaceful protests, with the latter reporting at least 3,000 protestors, with about 1,000 women among them. The women submitted a memorandum to the Panvel tehsildar, and the protest was over by 4 p.m. Another demonstration was recorded in Vashi’s Shivaji Chowk, where locals approached the police.
Thane, Aurangabad, Nandurbar, Parbhani, Beed, Latur, Bhandara, Chandrapur and Pune districts in Maharashtra have all reported similar protests. According to police, Muslims in all of these locations sought FIRs against Sharma and Jindal.
JAMMU AND KASHMIR
Protests in J&K reached as far as Srinagar and Bhaderwah and other places. In response to Sharma’s inflammatory remarks, Srinagar was shut down. In the city centre and Lal Chowk, shops and similar institutions were shuttered. Authorities in the Srinagar district reportedly shut off mobile internet access.Broadband services, on the other hand, were unaffected. Protests were also reported in the Kashmir Valley’s Shopian district. Bhaderwah and Doda also witnessed the protests.
POLICE’S HIGHLY PARTISAN ROLE
The police’s alleged brutality and inability to handle the situation during nationwide anti-blasphemy marches has undoubtedly added fuel to the fire.
Political and community leaders, and activists have underlined that Muslims and other justice-seeking citizens of the country have the constitutional and democratic right to protest.
Condemning the Yogi Adityanath government for using unconstitutional methods to suppress any peaceful protest, rights groupRihai Manch general secretary Rajiv Yadav told Radiance:“Any democratic government that denies these rights by indiscriminate arrests, police shootings, and the use of bulldozers is a shame.”
All of this, he said, is part of the RSS’s strategy of portraying Muslim protesters as aggressive by avoiding the question that the government must face at the international level.
Yadav blamed the BJP government for the country’s and Uttar Pradesh’s chaos.
Echoing his sentiments, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (M)’s General Secretary Maulana Hakeemuddin Qasmi said governments should realise that the demonstrators are citizens of the country and should not be regarded as adversaries from another country. He stated that such protests may contain nefarious elements, and that peaceful persons should not be penalised for their conduct.
The Welfare Party of India, which has condemned police brutality and cruelty against protesting Muslims, has asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
Speaking with Radiance, party national president Dr. Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas said Muslims were met with a harsh response from the police when they organised demonstrations seeking judicial action against Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal. Citizens have a fundamental and constitutional right to stage peaceful demonstrations.
He strongly criticised the arrest and demolition of the home of party leader and Federal Working Committee member Javed Muhammad, his wife and daughter (who had not even participated in the demonstration) in Allahabad.
He asked the Supreme Court of India to take suo moto action against state government’s illegal bulldozer terrorism and to put an end to criminal acts against Muslims.
All India Lawyers Council secretary general Advocate Sharfuddin Ahmad, sensing “invisible hands” in Kanpur’s violence and call for demonstration, said the individual who issued the call for protest has a questionable track record. Ahmad hails from Kanpur and was in the city when the protest turned violent.It’s perplexing that no community organisations have issued a call for protests, given the magnitude of the demonstrations around the country, Adv. Ahmad told Radiance.We should detect such elements that instigated people for protest and drag them to streets, he averred.
Former MP and editor of Bengali daily Puber Kalom Ahmad Hasan Imran told Radiance that peaceful protest is a democratic and constitutional right. He claimed that some miscreants tried to sabotage the protest march in Kolkata, and that we should be mindful of such persons who are agents of powers hostile to the community.
Joining the demand of the community, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury also said the government must take firm action against the two BJP spokespersons for specific offence.