Among the flood of photographs coming in on Friday from many parts of India capturing the angry -- and in some places violent -- protests demanding the arrests of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal for their remarks on the Prophet Mohammad comes this image from Kanpur which indicates there is still hope of a return to a kinder, gentler, India.
On his part, BJP Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane, himself no stranger to controversies, got into damage control mode and sought to calm frayed nerves, saying he has chided his son over the remarks.
It further claimed the prosecution has not been able to establish Khan had any intention to cause the murder (of Kolhe) in order to invoke UAPA or IPC provisions.
A team of Mumbai Police which travelled to Delhi to serve a summons to suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma in connection with a case regarding her controversial remarks about Prophet Muhammad could not find her, an official claimed in Mumbai on Friday.
The chemist, Umesh Prahladrao Kolhe (54), was killed on June 21, and Maharashtra police have arrested five persons in connection with the incident.
A man, who threatened to behead former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma, was arrested in Bareillay on Thursday, the police said.
The charge-sheet claimed that the accused had formed a terrorist gang to take revenge on Kolhe after he shared a WhatsApp post.
Sharma had applied for the licence which has been granted after assessing threats and following due procedure, they said.
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation and prosecution in hate crimes related to the "continuous attack" on the personality of Prophet Mohammad and disparaging remarks by various people in different parts of the country attacking the very belief system of Muslims at large.
The accused were brought here from Amravati city in eastern Maharashtra earlier in the day.
'Is it because they perceive India as a soft state?'
The Allahabad High Court has stayed the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in an FIR accusing him of promoting enmity among religious groups. The court also directed Zubair not to travel abroad. The FIR was lodged last month following a complaint by an associate of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand. Zubair had moved the high court, requesting quashing the FIR and protection from coercive action. In his plea, he stated that his post did not call for violence against Narsinghanand.
Rizwan Ashraf, 22, a resident of Mandi Bahauddin district in Pakistan's Punjab province, was nabbed from near the India-Pakistan International Border fence in the Sriganganagar sector, they said.
Even as the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha opposed the police's move, the law enforcers said the errors would be rectified and the posters put up again.
Yusuf Khan, the accused, was the one who took a screenshot of Kolhe's message supporting suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma and instigated others to target him, the agency told a special NIA court in New Delhi in a written reply to the bail plea.
The Congress hit out at the BJP, demanding the immediate arrest of those who have defamed India at the international level instead of enacting a "drama of action".
The statement was signed by 15 former judges, 77 ex-all India services officers and 25 veterans.
A photojournalist of a French news agency was shot at while three others were injured when activists of Pakistan's right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami protesting against satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Friday clashed with police when they tried to enter the French consulate in Karachi.
The cleric announced that he would gift his house to anyone who brings Sharma's head to him.
A home ministry spokesperson tweeted that the probe of the case relating to the "barbaric killing" of Kolhe has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency.
'Our deities are sanatan. If you insult them, we will also tell the truth. You tell our truth and it will be accepted by us. But why does it pain you when we tell the truth? This means somewhere history is dirty'
India on Monday hit out at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for its criticism of the country in the wake of the alleged derogatory remarks made against Prophet Mohammed by two Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries.
The Nuh police has booked a man for allegedly declaring a Rs 2 crore reward for cutting off the tongue of now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma over her remarks on Prophet Mohammad during a TV debate.
A day earlier, the properties of two people accused of rioting were demolished in Saharanpur where stone-pelting had taken place as well.
The incident took place in Gooriwan where the police team was on routine law and order duty for the procession marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammad, police said.
The accused, Rizwan Toufique Rahman Shaikh, a resident of KC Marg in Bandra (West), was apprehended by the Unit -9 of the Mumbai crime branch on Tuesday night, he said.
A first information report (FIR) was filed in Ghaziabad on Monday against Alt-News co-founder Mohammad Zubair for allegedly promoting enmity among religious groups and other offences following a complaint by an aide of controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand, according to police.
The House witnessed a ruckus when Mishra targeted the BJP.
The alleged filmmaker of the controversial video that sparked protests across the Muslim world has been arrested in Los Angeles, reported BBC.
David Headley, who has confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai attacks, had received four 'jihadi' videos from Lashkar-e-Tayiba's Pasha as part of the terror group's efforts to indoctrinate him.
The veteran actor performs Dastangoi: The Adventures of Amir Hamza at the Asia Society New York on Monday.
The first phase of Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh to be held on February 4 has been rescheduled and fresh date will be announced soon, the Election Commission said on Sunday citing uncertainty about the date of 'Barawafat' festival, the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad, which may also fall on the same day.
Pakistani terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri belonging to the radical Harakat-ul Jihad Islami group has been indicted in a United States court for the first time in connection with a plot to target a Danish newspaper which had published offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. Kashmiri was charged along with former Pakistani army major Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, who had conspired with David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussein Rana and planned to target Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Praising commando of Pakistan's Elite force Mumtaz Qadri for assassinating Punjab Governor Salaam Taseer, the Taliban warned that all those who opposed the blasphemy law would meet a similar fate.
The prime minister was accompanied by Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
An American woman, who styled herself 'Jihad Jane', on Wednesday pleaded guilty to charges that she worked online to support Islamic terrorists and moved overseas to plot killing of a Swedish artist who drew cartoons of Prophet Mohammad.
Aiming to spread the message of communal harmony, peace and team spirit, the Ahmedabad Police will organise cricket tournaments in communally-sensitive areas in the old city ahead of Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra on July 1, a police officer said on Monday.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated this to media persons during a lunch hosted by him at his residence in New Delhi on Saturday.
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