On August 9, an Islamist mob raised ‘Sar tan se Juda’ slogans outside a police station in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam. The mob was offended over an alleged blasphemous post on social media platforms by a woman. They demanded police action and a bulldozer drive against the culprit. As of now, the police have arrested the accused woman and identified people from the mob who raised the ‘murderous’ slogans.
Viral social media post
As per the media reports, following a social media post, the town of Ratlam witnessed a law and order situation. On August 9, the officers stationed at the Deendayal police station near Hata Road were ambushed by an Islamist mob, which later began sloganeering outside the police station. They were irked over a social media post and wanted the police to register a complaint and immediately demolish the house of the said accused, who in this case is a woman.
Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh: 'Sar tan se Juda' slogans raised in front of Hat Road police chowki by Islamists for an alleged blasphemous post by a woman on Instagram.
Woman has been arrested, another case against people in the mob chanting STSJ is registered, details in report soon pic.twitter.com/mlmXh0RvdN
— Subhi Vishwakarma (@subhi_karma) August 11, 2023
Soon police swung into investigations, and by then the mob collected outside the police station swell in size. Within no time, the mob turned out of control and tried entering the police station. Police officers from other police stations were called on-site to take the situation under control.
‘Sar tan se Juda’
The Islamists started chanting slogans like ‘Sar tan se Juda’ (calls for beheading of those committing blasphemy) and ‘Labbyek Ya Rasool Allah’ (We are present, O’ Messenger of Allah).
What says the FIR?
Notably, an FIR has also been instituted against those who raised ‘Sar tan se Juda’ slogans. Organiser accessed one such FIR (number–510) registered at Deendayal Nagar police station on August 10. The complainant is Assistant Sub Inspector at the Deendayal Nagar police station.
In his complaint, ASI Kamal Kumar Patel stated that, on August 9, one Sameer Shah, son of Raees Shah, came to the police station with a screenshot of a post. Prima Facie the picture suggests it is a case of blasphemy (ishninda), a crime under section 295-A (deliberate act intended to hurt religious sentiments) of the IPC. The police registered a complaint based on this evidence and began investigating.
The police told Sameer and his accomplice that as FIR has been registered against the accused woman, dedicated actions will be taken after the investigation. Still, the former brought a mob and assembled outside the police station. They indulge in sloganeering which is an offence under section 188.
This correspondent called up the Deendayal police station on August 11 but the calls went unanswered.
Police action
The police tried pacifying the protestors, but they were uncontrollable. The police informed the mob that they were registering a case against the person behind the said Instagram account. The police teams are yet to track the culprit, as per the handle name the person is a woman but the police have not officially said it.
Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar Khaka, CSP Abhinav Kumar Wareng, and Industrial Police Station In-charge Rajendra Verma were also manhandled at night. City Qazi Ahmed Ali who went there to pacify the situation was also sent back.
Subsequently, the police lodged an FIR. Following that, social activist Imran Khokar and councillor Waseem Ali took to the police vehicle to address the crowd, successfully urging them to conclude the traffic disruption.
The protestors, who had started assembling outside the police chowki at around 10 pm were finally taken under control by midnight. Imran Khokar came out of the police station with a copy of the FIR and read it aloud for the protestors. After listening to the FIR statement, the protestors left the site.
Additional SP Rakesh Khakha said, “Someone had posted an objectionable post on social media, following which, people of one community came to lodge a complaint as they got angry. We assured the people and have registered a case against the person who posted the controversial post. The entire matter is being investigated.”
‘Sar tan se Juda’ slogans in MP
- During the Nupur Sharma row an engineering student in Bhopal was found dead in suspicious circumstances, later his father received a message on his phone.
- A video from Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa went viral during Eid-Mild-un-Nabi, in that video similar slogans were raised.
- Most recently, during the protests against the Pathaan film, such slogans were raised in Indore and Mahu (Dr Ambedkar Nagar) area.
- During Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, a similar video surfaced on social media where ‘Sar tan se Juda’ slogans were raised.
