3rd hate speech case against Azhari

"A person named Ishaq, who had taken police permission for the event, was also booked. We will take custody of Azhari after his remand gets over in Kutch East," the SP said.

Mufti Salman Azhari at Rajkot jail on Wednesday. (Express File Photo)

Mumbai-based cleric Mufti Salman Azhari was Friday booked in a third alleged hate speech case at Modasa in Arvalli. He delivered an inflammatory speech at an open ground in Modasa on December 24, 2023, Arvalli SP Shefali Barwal said.

Azhari was held from Mumbai on February 5 after he delivered an alleged hate speech in Junagadh on January 31. On February 8, Kutch East police arrested him for delivering an allegedly provocative speech in Samakhiyari village, also on January 31.

Barwal said, “After the cases in Junagadh and Kutch were registered, we received information that Azhari delivered a speech at Modasa town on December 24, 2023. We suspected that he might have said something objectionable there as well. So, we checked videos (of his speech) and found three to four provocative statements being made.”

“We will seek his custody from court,” Barwal added.

In Junagadh and Kutch East, Azhari was booked under sections 153B (promoting enmity between different religious groups) and 505 (2) (making statements conducive to public mischief) of the IPC. In Modasa, he has also been charged under section 298 for “uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person”, Barwal said. Relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act have also been invoked as he made derogatory remarks against the SC community in his speech, police said.

“A person named Ishaq, who had taken police permission for the event, was also booked. We will take custody of Azhari after his remand gets over in Kutch East,” the SP said.

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hate speech