AMN / WEB DESK
Violence broke out in Kanpur during shutdown called by Muslim community protesting against Nupur Sharma of BJP’s blasphemous comments against Prophet Muhammad SAW. According to reports when Muslim shopkeepers were closing their shops after Friday prayers, the miscreants mob started pelting stones at them.
The violence took place on a day when the Prez, PM were in neighbouring distt of Kanpur Dehat and top businessmen were in Lucknow to attend GBC03.
The two groups came to blows at the city’s Parade Chowk, pelting stones at one another and at the police. 18 people have been arrested so far under the Gangster Act, the police commissioner said, adding that the others are being identified from video footage and photographs. Their properties will also be seized, he added.
Two have been injured in stone pelting when people from the minority community came out to shut the market down after Friday prayers. The police resorted to lathicharge to bring the situation under control.
Police in riot gear have been deployed to the area to restore normalcy. Three companies are in the area, trying to bring the situation under control.
In Maharashtra, two cases have been registered against BJP leader Nupur Sharma – in Thane and in south Mumbai – for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims during a TV debate.
The leader has been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code for ‘promoting enmity, outraging religious feelings’, ‘uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person’, ‘deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of a class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs’, and other offences.