Prophet Remark Row : Srinagar Court Orders Police Inquiry In Complaint Against Nupur Sharma, Naveen Jindal, Navika Kumar
The court of City Judge Srinagar today directed the Senior Superintendent of Police Srinagar to conduct an inquiry under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for ascertaining if there exist sufficient grounds to proceed in the complaint filed before it against Nupur Sharma and others, for comments on Prophet Muhammad. The court has further passed the directions to complete...
The court of City Judge Srinagar today directed the Senior Superintendent of Police Srinagar to conduct an inquiry under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for ascertaining if there exist sufficient grounds to proceed in the complaint filed before it against Nupur Sharma and others, for comments on Prophet Muhammad.
The court has further passed the directions to complete the said inquiry by the 28th of July 2022.
A lawyer named Mohammed Ashraf Bhat had filed a complaint before a court here, seeking punitive action against the now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and others for the alleged "blasphemous" remarks against Prophet Mohammad. Apart from Nupur Sharma, the complainant also named as accused the now-expelled Delhi BJP media head Naveen Kumar Jindal, Navika Kumar, anchor of TIMES NOW news channel, and Kirtima Maravoor, the Compliance Officer of Bennet Coleman and Company Ltd (TV Division).
The complainant through Advocate Nazir Ronga alleged that while Nupur Sharma used "inflammatory and derogatory" remarks about the Prophet Muhammad during a panel discussion in Times Now channel , Naveen Jindal endorsed the statement made by the former through a tweet from his official twitter handle.
The complainant futher alleged that the Navika Kumar, who was hosting the show, did not condemn or interject the statements made by Sharma. It is alleged that the accused persons acted with the common intention to hurt the religious sentiments of Muslim community.
Referring to Supreme Court judgments, the complainant argued that the Supreme Court has stated that "hate speech lays the groundwork for broad attacks on the vulnerable that can range from discrimination, to ostracism, deportation, violence, and even to genocide." The complainant sought directions for issuing process against all the accused and punishing them for offences under sections of 120-B, 153A, 153B, 295(A), 298 & 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code.
After hearing the counsel for the complainant, the court observed that all the accused persons reside outside the jurisdiction of the court and thus an inquiry under section 202 of Crpc becomes mandatory before issuing process against the accused persons. Directing SSP to conclude his inquiry by 28th July 2022, the court listed the matter again on the same day for further action.
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