Controversial Supreme Court lawyer Mehmood Pracha, who has a history of siding with anti-Hindu entities, has come to the rescue of arrested Delhi University professor Ratan Lal.
Hours after the arrest of Delhi University Professor, controversial Supreme Court advocate Mehmood Pracha came to his rescue, saying that a false case had been registered against Ratan Lal.
A false case was registered against him (Prof Ratan Lal). The FIR & complaint doesn’t mention one thing that can be termed as a cognizable offence. Despite that, arrests cannot be made u/s 153A & 295A IPC, police don’t have that power: Mehmood Pracha, advocate of Ratan Lal pic.twitter.com/NKKiUvT3D9
— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2022
Pracha claimed that the FIR has no mention of provisions that can be termed as a cognizable offence, however, despite that, the police have arrested the accused under Sections 153A & 295A IPC.
“This arrest is also a contempt of the judgement by the Supreme Court and a violation of section 3 in the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act… we will prove his innocence. More protests should happen,” Pracha added, who was once featured on the cover page of the ISIS magazine.
Earlier on Friday, Delhi University professor Ratan Lal was arrested for making objectionable comments against the Shivling that was unearthed inside Varanasi’s disputed structure called Gyanvapi Mosque, built on the ruins of a temple.
Lal, who is an assistant professor at Hindu College, was initially summoned for questioning, and he was later arrested. The Delhi Police arrested him based on a complaint registered by Supreme Court advocate Vineet Jindal, who had accused Lal of offending religious sensitivities.
The Delhi Police had arrested Ratan Lal under Indian Penal Code section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony) and 295A (deliberate act to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion) by the Cyber Police Station, North.
Mehmood Pracha was featured in ISIS magazine.
Mehmood Pracha, who is accused of fanning communal hatred in the past, was featured as the poster boy for a pro-ISIS media outlet and is accused of spreading communal hatred in the past.
As India went through communal turmoil during the anti-Hindu riots earlier in February 2020, a publication titled ‘Voice of Hind’ issued by Al-Qitaal Media Center and Junudul Khilafah al-Hind, had featured Mahmood Pracha on its cover page. The cover was titled “So, Muslims, where are you going?”. It was featured with the subtitle “A call to the Muslims of India”.
The magazine had praised slain terrorists in Kashmir. It had also urged the Muslims to reject the idea of an Indian nation-state and fight for the ‘caliphate’ instead.
Mehmood Pracha had called for ‘Muslims and Dalits to acquire Arms License”
In addition to this, Mehmood Pracha has also been accused of exhorting Muslims to take up arms. In a press conference last year, Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad and Mehmood Paracha announced that they would be setting up a camp in Lucknow to teach Muslims and Dalits about the ‘right to self-defence and how to apply for a firearm licence.
Mahmood Pracha had cited the incidents of mob lynchings and the Sonbhadra massacre as reasons for conducting the camp. According to him, those events would not have occurred if the victims had legal firearms to defend themselves. They were basically planning to raise an armed militia to combat ‘mob lynchings’, using licenced weapons. Later, Mahmood Paracha was seen holding that training camp inside a Lucknow Mosque, where he was training Muslims about how to fill out forms for licences and acquire firearms, even though an FIR had been registered against him for his incendiary speech.
In 2020, the special cell of Delhi Police had conducted raids at Pracha’s office in relation to the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots case.
