The Maharashtra Police on Thursday registered a case against Nisar Sayyad, Nouhid, Wasim Pathan, Altaf Shaikh, and six other unidentified persons for assaulting a 26-year-old person named Narendra Sriram in Solapur. Shriram was brutally assaulted by the accused after he shared a message on social media in support of ex-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
According to the reports, Narendra Sriram on June 11 had changed his Whatsapp status story to support Nupur Sharma who has been criticized globally for her alleged ‘blasphemous’ remarks. Some of his Whatsapp friends responded furiously to the story and abused him for extending support to Sharma. In an attempt to resolve the matter, Shriram apologized for his actions.
As the matter seemed resolved, Shriram’s friends June 13 caught him near his house and assaulted him. The Police stated that Sriram managed to save himself by running away from the spot. Later he complained against Nisar Sayyad, Nouhid, Wasim Pathan, Altaf Shaikh, and six other unidentified persons who had abused and assaulted him. The Police registered an FIR against the accused and arrested three of them in the case.
It is important to note that this is not the first case where a person has suffered for supporting an ex-BJP spokesperson. Earlier a 24-year-old ABVP activist was arrested for sharing a FB post in support of Sharma. Karthi Thandamuthur who had shared Nupur Sharma’s video on Facebook and had captioned it, “I’ll repeat this every day…Nupur Sharma only repeated what’s written… what wrong did she say?”
The Tamil Nadu Police arrested Karthi and charged him for promoting religious enmity. The Police booked him under section 153A of the Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information Technology Act
Also, a similar incident was reported in Maharashtra’s Thane district where Saad Ashfaq Ansari, an engineering student had extended his support to Sharma. In an Instagram story, Ashfaq had written, “A 50-year-old man marrying a 6-9-year-old kid is clear child abuse. And I don’t know how you people support this. Will you give your 6-year-old daughter to a 50-year-old man? (think about it).”
Saad, for his Instagram story, was assaulted and abused by a Muslim mob and was later arrested by the Bhiwandi police amid the ongoing blasphemy row. Police also arrested him for his extended support to Nupur Sharma by referring to her as a ‘brave lady.’
Several FIRs have been registered against Nupur Sharma for her remarks against Prophet Muhammad. Recently, the Bhiwandi Police and also the Kolkata Police have issued summons against Sharma to question her. Mumbai police have also summoned her asking her to appear on June 25. Similarly, Mumbra police in Thane have also asked her to appear on June 22.
