UP: Eidgah committee seeks NSA against man held for Facebook post against Prophet Muhammad, Quran

Shahjahanpur (UP), Sep 13 (PTI) The Eidgah committee here has demanded that the accused arrested for his objectionable social media posts against Prophet Muhammad and the Quran be booked under the stringent National Security Act, while pointing out that the comments have deeply hurt the community.

The chairman of the committee, Rahat Ali Khan and secretary Qasim Raja handed over the memorandum addressed to the President of India to Superintendent of Police Rajesh Dwivedi.

The memorandum stated that the person crossed all limits by posting an objectionable post on social media, making the city's Muslim community enraged.

Demanding that action against the accused be taken under the National Security Act, the committee alleged that there is a big conspiracy behind the post, and other people involved should be identified and action initiated against them.

"Apart from this, those who are doing fake journalism on Facebook should be investigated, and action should be taken by running a campaign against the fake journalists," the memorandum stated.

Saturday's development comes a day after tension prevailed in Shahjahanpur's Sadar Bazar area when a 45-year-old man allegedly posted objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad and the Quran on social media, prompting a large crowd to gather outside the police station and raise slogans.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Dwivedi on Friday night told PTI that the accused posted derogatory comments on Facebook. "Our social media monitoring team spotted the post, after which the police arrested the accused," he said.

Dwivedi added that late Friday night, members of the Muslim community surrounded the police station and staged a protest.

"I arrived at the scene with other officers and informed the protesters that the accused had been arrested. They dispersed peacefully afterwards," the SP added.

Dwivedi, on Saturday, told PTI that the accused has been identified as KK Dixit. He has appealed to the people not to post anything against any religion or engage with such content.

A case has been registered against Dixit under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 302 (uttering words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person). PTI COR NAV NSD NSD NSD