htmetro@hindustantimes.com
Mumbai: National spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nupur Sharma has been booked for allegedly making objectionable comments on Prophet Muhammad during a news channel debate on Gyanvapi mosque.
The case is registered based on the complaint made by Irfan Abubakar Shaikh, a hotelier from south Mumbai. He works with Raza Academy as a joint secretary. Senior inspector Srikant Rajarampatil of the Pydhonie police station confirmed that the FIR has been registered against Sharma.
She has been booked under the charges of 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, for hatred or ill will between classes of Indian Penal Code.
Shaikh alleged in his complaint that he received a Twitter link on his WhatsApp. The link contains a video debate on Gyanvapi mosque, televised on an English news channel, where Sharma, along with three other members participated. Shaikh alleged that Sharma made objectionable remarks about Islam and its prophet, in an attempt to defame him.
The BJP spokesperson Sharma later said on a TV channel, “The entire debate was not shown in the video which was circulated. Some snippets of the video were circulated by Mohammad Zubair, who claims to be a fact-checker. But I will say, he is a fake spreader and circulated tweets with an intention to disturb communal harmony”.
She further shared, “Whatever I have quoted during the debate, I said from a particular religious scripture. If I am wrong, then a learned cleric will come forward and clarify it. I am receiving death threats, rape threat and beheading threats against me and my family. She also tagged the Delhi police in her tweet.