The police detained the president of the Shibli College Student Union for inciting violence against the spokesperson for the BJP, Nupur Sharma, and the Hindu community over blasphemy claims. The accused, on Saturday night (May 28), Abdur Rahman, delivered the controversial statement in front of his college’s entrance.
In a now-viral social media video, Rahman can be heard screaming, “She (Nupur Sharma) has done blasphemy and disrespected our Prophet. “The position of Muslims is such that their hands are hacked off if the number 786 is etched on them or if they publish a photograph of a lynching.”
“However, no Muslim steps up when the honour of our Prophet is challenged” (to avenge it). Why? He exhorted a Muslim gathering because we’ve gotten afraid, complacent, and cowardly.
“Therefore, I urge everyone present to campaign for things pertaining to our religion and its last Messenger,” he said. Abdur Rahman warned, among chants of Naara-e-Takbeer and Allahu Akbar, that he is eager to crush 80 crore Hindus beneath his feet.
The gathering, to whom the president of Shibli College was speaking, could be heard vying for the life of Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman for the BJP. A guy proclaimed, “Gustaak-e-Rasool Ki Ek Hi Saza, Sarr Tann See Juda” (The sole punishment for ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad is beheading).
After the contentious video got popular on social media, the Azamgarh cyber unit took note of the situation and launched an investigation. According to Azamgarh SP Anurah Arya, Rahman was taken into custody and questioned.
A First Information Report (FIR) was filed, and the accused was charged with intentionally insulting religious sensibilities in violation of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 295A.
Since participating in a news debate on the Times Now channel on Friday, BJP spokesman Nupur Sharma has received a deluge of death threats and hate mail (May 27). During a debate about the controversial Gyanvapi Structure, Sharma stated that it is permissible to ridicule Islamic beliefs in response to offensive remarks about Hinduism.
Following the debate, a claimed fact-checker from Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, uploaded an out-of-context clip of the discussion, signalling to his hundreds of thousands of followers that she should be attacked. As time passed, threats of rape and murder were made against Nupur Sharma and her family members.
Several others, such as journalist Rana Ayyub, joined Zubair afterwards and incited greater animosity towards Sharma by accusing her of ‘blasphemy,’ resulting in an intensification of the threats.
