The Rajasthan police have arrested Syed Salman Chishti, a caretaker at the Ajmer Dargah, in connection with a video where he can be allegedly heard making an appeal to behead former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her remarks on the Prophet.
Dalbeer Singh, SHO, Dargah police station, Ajmer said that Chishti was arrested late on Tuesday night. According to the police, the video was recorded by Chishti some three weeks ago, right after the comments made by Sharma.
“Chishti, who is in his thirties, is a certified khadim of the Ajmer dargah and also a voter of the Anjuman. Around three weeks ago, two to three days after Sharma’s statement, he had recorded a video wherein Chishti had said that had he been capable, he would have shot Sharma. He said that since Sharma had insulted the Prophet, Chishti would give his house and land to anyone who brings him Sharma’s head,” said Singh.
Singh added that previously around 14 other cases have been registered against Chishti for offences including murder, attempt to murder and assault and he has also been acquitted in some of the cases.
“Chishti is a history-sheeter of the Dargah police station. Recently, his video calling for the beheading of Sharma went viral following which we registered an FIR against him,” said Singh.
Singh added that the FIR was filed under sections including 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), 115 (Abetment of offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life—if offence not committed.—), 117 (Abetting commission of offence by the public or by more than ten persons) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Meanwhile, The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to list urgently a petition seeking to arrest former BJP Spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her alleged remarks against Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate.
The plea was mentioned for urgent listing before a vacation bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and J.K. Maheshwari. The counsel contended before the bench that a complaint was made to the police but no action has been taken so far against her.
The bench told the council, “Why mention it before the vacation bench? Mention it before the registrar.” After hearing brief submissions, the court declined to urgently list the matter and asked the counsel to mention it before the registrar for the listing of the matter.
On July 1, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala minced no words in slamming suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma, whose remarks on Prophet Muhammad sparked a controversy. The top court said her loose tongue has set the entire country on fire and her irresponsible remarks shows that she is “obstinate and arrogant”.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, representing Sharma, sought transfer of all FIRs filed against her to Delhi. However, the bench reprimanded Sharma for making irresponsible comments against a religion.
It said, “These remarks are very disturbing…shows her arrogance. What is her business to make such remarks?” Singh pointed at the written apology issued by her. The bench said she damaged the social fabric with her comments, resulting in the unfortunate murder of a tailor in Udaipur and declined to entertain her plea.
Meanwhile, days after the horrific killing of a tailor in Udaipur, a lawyer from Ajmer has claimed he has received threats on social media for a specific “Udaipur-like beheading”.
The Bar Association, on behalf of the lawyer, submitted a memorandum to the Ajmer Superintendent of Police (SP) and sought action in the matter.
Lawyer Bhanu Pratap Singh Chauhan said that he had come across a video related to Nupur Sharma’s statement on social media where the discussion was on Tipu Sultan. After watching the video, he dropped a comment.
“The discussion on social media was very normal and peaceful. The next day when I opened YouTube, I saw a notification in which a person named Sohail Syed had threatened to behead me,” the lawyer said.
Mr Chauhan said that subsequently, he filed a complaint at the Rajasthan government’s ‘Sampark’ portal and also informed the Bar Association about it.
Bhanu Pratap along with the office bearers of the District Bar Association went to meet Ajmer SP Chunaram Jat to submit a memorandum. The SP was not available so he met the Additional SP Vikas Sangwan and submitted the memorandum. He also urged the police to trace the accused with the help of the Cyber Cell.
On June 28, tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli was beheaded by two men in Udaipur’s Maldas street area. The victim had shared a social media post in support of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma a few days ago.
