A Mumbai-based citizen has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking registration of an FIR against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BJP member Nitesh Rane for anti-Muslim rhetoric and inaction against those spreading hatred and Islamophobia.
Advocate Ejaz Naqvi said that the petition filed by Bandra resident Mohammad Wasi Sayed for an urgent hearing before the court decided to hear the matter on Thursday.
The petition seeks an order to take action against organizers of “Islamophobic” rallies and for the authorities to stop live broadcasting of Rane’s meetings and speeches directed at members of the Muslim community.
It also emphasizes the need for the state to hold senior police officers responsible and accountable in case permission is given to a BJP MP or others found to have “Islamophobic tendencies” in holding such rallies.
The petition goes on to say that Shinde and Rane should be charged jointly by the Supreme Court as “hateful, hate speech, Islamophobic” and “thereafter be directed to face impeachment and prosecution as per their oath and violation, for violating the Representation of the Peoples Act and violating the Constitution of India”.
Further, it also called for action against BJP spokesperson Shahzad Poonawala and former party spokesperson Nupur Sharma for allegedly spreading hatred against Muslims and Islamophobic posts on the basis of fake news.
The petition also said that the Center and the states should make guidelines against the media in promoting hateful material, while the internet police should remove such material from social media.
Nitesh Rane sparked controversy this month with inflammatory remarks against the Muslim community.
At an event on September 1, he threatened Muslims that they would “enter your mosques and hunt them down” if Hindu minister Mahant Ramgiri Maharaj, who has been accused of making slanderous remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, was harmed.