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15-06-2023
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: A Muslim activist has completed a year in jail without trial after being accused of “masterminding” protests against derogatory remarks made by members of India’s ruling party about the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Javed Mohammad has been jailed since June 11 last year. He has been granted bail in six of the eight cases against him and remains behind bars in Uttar Pradesh state’s Deoria district, about 260km (160 miles) northeast of his hometown of Prayagraj, where his home was demolished by authorities following the nationwide protests.
Two days before the 57-year-old activist finished a year in jail, his 83-year-old father, Mohammad Azhar, died. Authorities denied him permission to attend the burial.
Mohammad’s daughter Afreen Fatima, 25, is angry that her father did not get a parole to attend the funeral.
“Hatred has grown so big that people have become inhuman. A man is behind bars for one year even though the entire city can testify his innocence. His father passed away, but he is not allowed to attend the funeral rites,” she told media.
On June 10 last year, protests erupted over derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad by at least two prominent members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including its national spokeswoman.
The remarks set off diplomatic protests and outrage from the Muslim world and countries that included the United States.
In some places in India, protesters demanding the arrest of the two BJP members threw rocks at security forces, leading to clashes that killed at least two teenagers.
After a similar clash in Prayagraj, a city that had earlier been known as Allahabad, the state government, led by far-right Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath, launched a crackdown on the protesters and arrested dozens of people.
Mohammad, a community leader in the city, was arrested after police declared him the “mastermind” of the protests in Prayagraj. The next day, authorities razed his two-storey house, declaring his decades-old residence an “illegal structure”.
