The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on November 17 lodged a complaint against Waseem Rizvi, the former chief of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board, for making alleged insulting statements against the Prophet.
In the complaint addressed to the Commissioner of Police of Hyderabad, Owaisi alleged that Rizvi has written a book in Hindi where he vilified Prophet Mohammad and used objectionable language. Owaisi was complaining against the latest book by Rizvi titled ‘Muhammad,’ which was released on November 4 from Dasna Devi temple at Ghaziabad in presence of Narsinghanand Saraswari.
According to The Wire, the book in Hindi “presents prophet Mohammad as a murderer, womaniser and a madman”. Rizvi also claimed in his book that Mohammad wrote falsehoods in the Quran. The Wire further informs that the book’s cover depicts a naked woman in front of a man, presumed to be prophet Mohammad.
“The contents of the book and the objectionable statements have been made with a view to outrage the religious sentiments of those who follow Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and abide by Islamic tenets. His statements are also targeted at creating a feeling of enmity against Muslims of India which is likely to result in a threat to the breach of peace,” the complaint reads.
We met Hyderabad Police Commissioner.Ex-Chairman of UP Shia Waqf Board Wasim Rizvi wrote a book that has objectionable statements on Prophet Mohammed. We requested that he be booked.Commissioner assured us of a criminal case.We hope he’ll be arrested: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi pic.twitter.com/iQPh6J6hGr
— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2021
Owaisi, later on, told the media that he led a delegation of AIMIM to meet the police chief where we urged to lodge an FIR against Rizvi under relevant sections of the IPC. He said that Rizvi should be booked under section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 153 B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (1) (C) intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offense against any other class or community, of the IPC.
AIMIM chief Owaisi, who is also MP from Hyderabad, said that the police assured him of action against Rizvi. “We hope that once the criminal case is registered, the Telangana government will arrest him as well. This man only wants to provoke Muslims, and is being used as a tool by the anti-Muslim forces. We appeal to peace-loving people and Muslims across the country to file a criminal case against him,” he said. He alleged that Rizvi was a tool in the hands of the anti-Muslim forces who wanted to provoke Muslims.
Rizvi is a progressive Muslim who has been facing criticism from the Islamic fundamentalist. He had supported the cause of the Ram Temple in Ayodhyaa, and had also scripted and produced a film titled Ram Janmabhoomi.
Earlier this year, Rizvi had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Supreme Court of India, seeking the removal of 26 verses of the Quran, saying that these verses promote terrorism. However, the court had called the petition frivolous, and had imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on him. After failing to get the terror-supporting verses removed from the Quran officially, Waseem Rizvi had created a new Islamic Holy book, after omitting the said 26 verses from the Quran.
