Mumbai cleric booked for ‘hate speech’ in Gujarat

An Islamic cleric was booked in Gujarat’s Junagadh on Saturday after a video of an alleged inflammatory speech delivered by him was widely shared on social media.
Two men who organised the event where he delivered the speech have been arrested, said police.

Police were trying to trace the cleric, Mumbai resident Mufti Salman Azhari, said Superintendent of Police Harshad Mehta.

The speech was delivered at an event held in an open ground near the ‘B’ division police station in Junagadh on Wednesday night, he said.

After the video went viral, an FIR was registered against Azhari and local organisers Mohammad Yousuf Malek and Azim Habib Odedara under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153B (promoting enmity between different religious groups) and 505 (2) (making statements conducive to public mischief), Mehta said.