rediff.com: Sedition cases registered against Bukharis

The Delhi government has registered sedition cases againt Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Abdullah Bukhari and his son Ahmed Bukhari, for alleged anti-national speeches, the Delhi high court was informed on Wednesday.

Government standing counsel K C Mittal told a division bench comprising Justices Usha Mehra and S N Kapoor that a case under Section 124-A (sedition) had been registered against Abdullah Bukhari for his speech at the Ram Leela grounds in New Delhi on April 21, in which he allegedly declared himself as an Inter-Services Intelligence agent.

A similar case had been registered against Ahmed Bukhari, the Naib Imam, for his alleged anti-national speech in the Jama Masjid on April 24, Mittal said.

The cases were registered following a public interest litigation by an non-gorvernmental organisation, Society for Securing Justice, which alleged that Abdullah Bukhari was promoting disharmony in society and attempted to instigate a section of people to wage war against the country.

The petitioner had sought registration of a case under Section 121 (waging or attempting to wage war against the country), Section 124 (sedition), Section 153 (provocation for causing riots) and Section 153-A (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion) against Abdullah Bukhari.

The court, while directing the government counsel to file an action taken report by November 9, asked the petitioner to supply relevant material to the government if they thought that cases besides Section 124-A could be made out against the accused.

Society counsel A K Srivastava claimed that the senior Imam had attacked the policy of secularism and declared that he would go to Ayodhya to lay the foundation of the Babri Masjid.

Bukhari, in a recent interview to a website, had "proclaimed" himself as an ISI agent and dared the government to arrest him, Srivastava alleged.

Such statements are clearly made to incite the sentiments of a section of people and pose a grave danger to our democracy," he said.


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