The Dehli High Court has rejected a plea that sought a ban on the book written by Wasim Rizvi, Muhammad, contending that the book contained remarks against Islam, the Quran and Prophet Muhammad. The suit was filed by Qamar Hasnain who had also sought damages worth Rs 2,05,00,000 to make Rizvi stop from committing such acts in the future.
The suit had sought a permanent injunction against the book, demanding that all copies of the book, sold and unsold be destroyed. The plea had also demanded that the books in print be recalled. The suit, seeking permanent injunction to stop Waseem Rizvi from making such provocative statements or publishing them on any platform, was dismissed by single-judge bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula.
The petitioner had approached the Delhi High Court on behalf of all practitioners of Islam and claimed that the book is not just offensive to practitioners of Islam, but was offensive, hateful and distressing to any other casual reader as well. The bench ruled that “in the absence of disclosure of infringement of any legal right, the plaintiff’s prayer seeking injunction and damages on account of being offended or aggrieved by the contents of a book – which allegedly is hurtful to his religious sentiments – would not give him any right to approach this court by way of the present suit”.
“For such suits, amongst other requirements as provided under Section 91 of CPC (Code of Civil Procedure), a suit if not filed by the Advocate General, has to be filed by two or more persons with the leave of the court,” the judge elucidated.
“Under this provision, a party can perhaps approach the court for an illegal act which in its nature tends to cause injury of the public at large. However, for a representative action, it is indispensable that reliance is placed upon such provisions of the statute. No such pleadings are found in the instant case,” the court remarked.
It is important to note that while the court dismissed the case because it was of the opinion that the petitioner did not have a legal right to bring this case to the court, the bench clarified that it had not commented on the merits of the case in this judgement.
Wasim Rizvi becomes Jitendra Narayan Swami
Former Shia Waqf Board chief Wasim Rizvi reverted to Hinduism by renouncing Islam in December 2021. He has been a frequent target of fundamentalists because of his statements. He converted to Hinduism in the presence of Mahant Yati Narasinghanand Giri at Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad. Rizvi was welcomed back into the faith of his ancestors in a series of rituals, after which he was named Jitendra Narayan Swami.
Recently, Rizvi launched his book ‘Muhammad’ in the presence of Dasna Mahant. After that, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi himself filed a complaint against him. In his complaint, Owaisi alleged that Rizvi wrote the book to hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community. Earlier, Rizvi had made headlines when he had filed a PIL to remove 26 verses from Quran, stating those verses allegedly encourage terrorism. As the head of the Shia Waqf Board, Rizvi had supported the struggle for the Ram Mandir at Ram Janmabhoomi, Ayodhya.
