Two people died while a dozen others sustained injuries in street violence after Friday prayers in Ranchi as the storm over a suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's remarks on Prophet Muhammad spread in Jharkhand and invited strong administrative responses in UP and Bengal, including around 350 arrests across the two states, NSA cases and bulldozer action on suspects’ houses in Saharanpur.
In Bengal’s Howrah, where at least 12 cops were injured in clashes with protesters on Friday, the entire Howrah Police brass was reshuffled as part of the Mamata Banerjee government’s attempt to stymie trouble in new pockets of unrest. Prohibitory orders were clamped in Uluberia subdivision and the internet ban extended to Murshidabad’s Beldanga, Rejinagar and Shaktipur till Tuesday.
Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar was briefly in custody along with 29 party workers for allegedly trying to foment trouble. They were released on bail later in the day.
UP Police arrested 245 people by Saturday afternoon for stone-pelting and defying prohibitory orders. A total of 16 FIRs were lodged, mentioning 6,000-odd suspects. In Ambedkarnagar, the imam of a mosque, identified as Faraz Ahmad, was among those rounded up. The houses of two among 64 people arrested in Saharanpur were bulldozed amid instructions from CM Yogi Adityanath to also make those responsible for damage to property to “pay for it”.
“The process of sending recovery notices has started in Prayagraj. It should similarly be started in other districts at the earliest,” he said, also mentioning that the “bulldozer action” is restricted to history-sheeters and the mafia. “If, by any chance, a poor family has built a home in a place where it shouldn’t be, the administration should first find them alternative accommodation,” he said.
The CM’s adviser, Mrityunjay Kumar, tweeted that “rowdy elements” should remember “there is always a Saturday after each Friday”. MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi tweeted a video of cops beating up an accused in the police station, captioning it “return gift for protesters”.
Saharanpur MP Haji Fazlur Rehman met DM Akhilesh Singh and SSP Akash Tomar along with local clerics and politicians, including Behat MLA Umar Ali Khan, to complain about the “arbitrary arrest of innocent youngsters”. In Muzaffarnagar, police detained some suspects for allegedly sharing fake messages
Unrest in several states
Unrest also erupted in several other parts of India as members of the minority community came out on the streets soon after the Friday prayers. While the demonstrations were largely peaceful in Gujarat, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Maharashtra and Telangana, several people were injured in the violence that erupted in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Jharkhand.
In Bihar, large numbers of Muslims came out on the roads after offering ‘namaz’ in the mosques in Nawada, Biharsharif and Ara towns. Barring in Nawada, where some people threw stones, the protests were largely peaceful. In the Old City area in Hyderabad, hundreds of people took to the streets after the Friday prayers. In Madhya Pradesh, minority community members held peaceful protests in Vidisha and Chhindwara districts and submitted memorandums to the administration demanding action against Nupur Sharma.
In Karnataka’s Kalaburagi, hundreds of protesters gathered at Muslim Chowk and held a demonstration demanding action against Sharma.
Jamaat to issue fatwa against protests
Muslim clerics associated with Delhi based ‘Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind’ on Sunday claimed that they would soon issue a fatwa backed by at least a 1,000 prominent signatories, urging Muslims to refrain from joining any violent protests in the name of Prophet Muhammad. They said while no insult to the Prophet will be tolerated, peaceful dialogue was the only way to a solution as the Prophet's teachings profess love and peace.
Talking to reporters, Maulana Sohaib Qasami, head of the outfit that was launched in 2015, accused Maulana Arshad Madani and Mahmood Asad Madani, who are steering the rival factions of prominent Muslim organisation Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, members of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi of "instigating Muslims to take to protests", which ended up seeing violence.
