The ghosts of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Farooq Shaikh, Rahi Masoom Raza and the censor board officials – both living and dead – who cleared the screening of their 'anti-Hanuman' film in 1983 must be summoned and probed alongside Mohammad Zubair.
Wasim Rizvi alias Jitendra Tyagi was detained by Uttarakhand Police in Haridwar on Thursday over making objectionable and inflammatory statements against Islam during the ‘Dharam Sansad’ or religious assembly held in Haridwar.
The Haridwar police have invoked only Sec 153 A - promoting communal enmity - against three speakers at the Haridwar Dharam Sansad. Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar said that their speeches did not lead to any violence or killings, and hence no UAPA.
The targeting of Muslim women is not just a one-off thing; it is well ideated and deliberated. This is not just an attack on Muslim women alone; it’s an attack on a religious identity, a normalisation of the ‘othering’ and dehumanisation of Muslims.
'The very fact that this gathering was allowed was a massive failure on the part of your government's law and order machinery,' the letter addressed to the chief minister said.