July 20, 2004
Press release
Mumbai’s Police
Commissioner, Mr. AN Roy, promises immediate investigation into
complaint of Urdu Times’ communal campaign, instigating
religious hatred and violence
Mumbai’s police commissioner, Mr. AN Roy, assured
a delegation of Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD) on Tuesday,
July 20, 2004, that he would direct an immediate investigation
into the MSD complaint that the editors, publisher, proprietors
and certain columnists of the Mumbai daily, Urdu Times’
had launched a malicious communal campaign, inciting religious
hatred and instigating violence against the MSD president, Mr.
Javed Akhtar, in particular, and other office bearers and
members of MSD in general.
Mr. Roy added that the media monitoring cell of
the Mumbai police had already drawn his attention to certain
reports and articles published in the Urdu Times and the
police was already seized of the matter.
He said that he would ask the legal cell of the
Mumbai police to examine the detailed complaint filed by MSD (to
which clippings of the inflammatory writings published in the
Urdu Times were attached) in the light of its demand that
the Mumbai police launch a criminal prosecution against the
daily under Section 153A and other relevant sections of the IPC.
After giving the delegation members a patient
hearing, the police commissioner said that the Mumbai police was
fully committed to protecting every citizen’s constitutional
right to freedom of expression and that his force would act
firmly against any group or organisation that attempted to
stifle the voice of dissent through force or threat of
violence.
Among other things, the delegation members
stressed before the police commissioner that should any
office-bearer or member of MSD come to any physical harm in the
coming days and weeks, it would hold the Urdu Times’ as
fully and entirely responsible for the same. Mr. Roy assured the
delegation that any member of MSD who apprehended violence
should feel free to contact his office and he would ensure
necessary police protection.
Members of the delegation pointed out to the
police commissioner that in no other Muslim country, including
those that proclaim themselves as Islamic states, does a Muslim
male have the liberty to divorce his wife instantly. Even in
India, it is only a section of the followers of the Hanafi sect
that defend the practice of triple talaq. At its July 4
meeting in Kanpur, the very first resolution passed by the All
India Muslim Personal Law Board was to launch a nationwide
campaign against the ‘wrongful’ practice of triple talaq.
In view of the above, in branding MSD as “enemies of Islam”, the
Urdu Times was merely demonstrating its own Talibani
mindset and its malicious intent.
As an example of the Urdu Times’ highly
communal and totally irresponsible journalism, MSD’s 6-page
memorandum to the police commissioner cited the editorial it
published on January 22, 1994 gloating over the terrible
earthquake that devastated the Latur and Osmanabad districts of
Maharashtra in the following words:
“Delays there may be, but Allah’s ways are always
just… Latur and Osmanabad are districts from where many
villagers had sent a number of kar sevaks to Ayodhya.
They participated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on
December 6... Praise be to Allah Almighty who has reduced to
dust those who committed sacrilege on the sacred soil of the
Babri Masjid”. (Urdu Times editorial, January 22, 1994).
Led by MSD convenor, Gulam Mohd. Peshimam, the
delegation included MSD vice-presidents Hasan Kamal and Sajid
Rashid and Javed Anand (general secretary). Teesta Setalvad
(Secretary, Citizens for Justice and Peace) and Nikhil Wagle
(Editor, Apla Mahanagar) also joined the delegation to
lend their voice to the demand for criminal prosecution of the
Urdu Times’ editors and others responsible for
instigating violence against fellow journalists and fellow
Muslims by labeling them as “enemies of Islam”, munafiqeen
(heretics, infidels, atheists) merely because the MSD had
reiterated its demand for an end to the inhuman and anti-women
triple talaq (instant divorce) practice and other reforms
in all personal laws, including the Muslim personal law.
Well-known playwright Vijay Tendulkar, film
director, Mahesh Bhatt and the president of the Yuva Kranti Dal,
Dr. Kumar Saptarshi, who could not join the delegation are also
signatories to the demand for action against the Urdu Times.
Javed Anand
General Secretary
