On July 3, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a statement that even if he strongly objects to the observations made by the Supreme Court bench on Nupur Sharma, being a law minister, he would not comment on the observation. He further added that the matter could be discussed at an appropriate forum.
As Law Minister, it’s not proper for me to comment on judgement & observation by SC bench.Even if I’ve serious objections…I wouldn’t like to comment. Can be discussed at appropriate forum…It’s oral observation,not judgement: Law Min Kiren Rijiju on SC remarks on Nupur Sharma pic.twitter.com/Tp31UVljER
— ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2022
News Agency ANI quoted him saying, “As Law Minister, it’s not proper for me to comment on judgment and observation by SC bench. Even if I have serious objections, I would not like to comment. It can be discussed at an appropriate forum. It is an oral observation, not judgment.”
Observations made by the Supreme Court bench
On July 1, the bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice JB Pardiwala of the Supreme Court of India blamed former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for the brutal Udaipur murder and stated that her ‘loose tongue’ had set the entire country on fire and she should apologise to the whole country.
The SC judges did not stop at just blaming one woman for violence and murder committed by religious fanatics in the name of Islam, they also refused to grant any relief to Sharma and has rejected her application to transfer all FIRs against her to Delhi. The oral observations were not included in the final order.
Nupur Sharma had approached the apex court to transfer all FIRs registered against her across the country to Delhi. Sharma has been receiving death threats since her remarks on Prophet Mohammed were shown in a grossly misinterpreted manner on social media. Islamist propaganda page Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair initially shared the clip of her remarks in which he allegedly edited the remarks made by Islamist panellists against Bhagwan Shiv that irked Nupur Sharma in the first place. Zubair is currently lodged in Tihar jail in judicial custody after investigation in a blasphemy case on him revealed FCRA violations, destruction of evidence amongst other things.
Murder of Kanhaiya Lal
Supreme Court bench claimed Nupur Sharma was responsible for the brutal death of Kanhaiya Lal, a Hindu tailor from Udaipur. The bench accused Nupur Sharma of giving provocative remarks that “angered” the Islamists.
Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded in Udaipur, Rajasthan, after a post was made from his phone supporting Nupur Sharma. On June 28, two Islamists identified as Mohammed Riyaz Akhtar and Mohammed Gos entered his shop posing as customers. When Kanhaiya Lal was busy taking measurements, one of the killers attacked him while the other recorded the whole incident. He was dragged out of the shop and beheaded in broad daylight.
Notably, his neighbour Nazim had earlier filed a complaint against Kanhaiya Lal, and he was arrested for the same. Nazim also allegedly leaked his phone number, photograph and address to his community groups. Nazim and his associates allegedly provoked everyone to kill Kanhaiya Lal in the groups.
Fearing for his life, Kanhaiya Lal shut his shop for six days and approached Police for protection. Instead of giving him protection, the Police asked him to compromise with the Islamists who were threatening him. After six days, when he opened his shop, two Islamists came as customers and beheaded him. The two attackers, identified as Mohammed Riyaz Akhtar and Mohammed Ghous, were arrested by the Police. National Investigation Agency is probing the case.
