Two people identified as Mohammad Mudassir Kaifi and Mohammad Sahil died and over two dozen people were injured in protests and subsequent clashes that rocked the state capital on Friday over the remarks made by two suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries against Prophet Mohammad, officials said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging talks with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday against the backdrop of widespread anger in West Asia over controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed made by two former Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons.
A massive controversy is raging in Jammu and Kashmir after a plaque with the Ashoka emblem was vandalised in the Hazratbal shrine as parties on Saturday accused Waqf Board chief Darakshan Andrabi of hurting religious sentiments by using the national emblem in the mosque and demanded registration of a criminal case and her immediate removal.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan authorities defends sitting during Pakistan's national anthem 'due to music'.
The Calcutta high court on Thursday directed the West Bengal government to take all possible steps to ensure that no violence takes place during any protest over the controversial remarks made against Prophet Muhammad by now-sacked Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the BJP spokesperson, saying it insulted Prophet Muhammad.
Owaisi has demanded the arrest Nupur Sharma for the alleged objectionable remark against Prophet Muhammad.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP leader Jahanzaib Sirwal threatened to resign from the party, citing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's "unacceptable" remarks and the state police's "vindictive" attitude against the Muslim community.
Ramanunni had received an anonymous threat letter warning him that his right arm and left leg would be chopped off if he did not convert to Islam within six months.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Ghaziabad's Loni seat Nand Kishore Gurjar has alleged that the crowd which had gathered on Friday night to protest against Yati Narsinghanand had pelted stones at the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad and police should have 'shot' the attackers.
Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, the 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, passed away in Lisbon at the age of 88 on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
Quraishi asserted that India has, is and will always stand up and fight for its constitutional institutions and principles.
Singh, known for his hardline religious rhetoric, was suspended by the party following protests in Hyderabad against his comments leading to his arrest by the Telangana Police.
Following the MEA statement, French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain thanked India saying both countries can count on each other in the fight against terrorism.
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.
People pelted stones at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur and protests broke out after Friday prayers in at least four other cities in Uttar Pradesh over a non-suspended BJP leader's recent remarks on Prophet Muhammad.
Observing that it never wanted Sharma to visit every court for relief, the bench issued notices to the Centre and several states including Delhi, West Bengal, and Maharashtra on her plea and sought their responses by August 10.
'If at all human beings require a religion, the future religion will be Hinduism.'
Prohibitory orders were imposed in parts of Ranchi city after some policemen, including an Indian Police Service officer, and others were injured in Ranchi on Friday while trying to control a mob near a temple, an official said.
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.
The central agency has re-registered two separate first information reports under the UAPA and IPC sections related to arson, violence and destruction of public property. The case was earlier being probed by the Bengaluru Police, they said.
A two-member committee, comprising senior IAS officer Amitabh Kaushal and Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Latkar, was formed to investigate the violence that left two persons dead and at least 24 people injured, the official told PTI.
The Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) has served a notice to the stepmother of June 3 violence key accused Zafar Hayat Hashmi, seeking explanations why a hostel allegedly owned by her should not be demolished.
Several Muslim nations have condemned remarks by BJP's former national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and its Delhi media head Naveen Kumar Jindal against the Prophet.
Rana said the comments were misconstrued and it was made in the context of India.
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.
'J&K administration has blocked the residence of Party President Dr Farooq Abdullah and stopped him from offering prayers at Dargah Hazratbal. 'JKNC condemns this infringement of fundamental right to pray, especially on the auspicious occasion of Milad Un Nabi SAW,' the NC said on its Twitter handle.
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.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to "subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term".
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.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has claimed that foolproof security was provided to slain Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, and that his death was the result of his own negligence. Bhatti was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Islamabad on Wednesday for championing the case of Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was sentenced to death last November for allegedly committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.
In response to Switzerland's plan to ban the construction of minarets on mosques, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has called for jihad against one of the most peaceful nations in the world. "Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against (the Prophet) Muhammad, God and the Koran," The Times quoted Colonel Gaddafi as saying. In November, an overwhelming majority of the Swiss population voted against the construction of new minarets.
The Hurriyat faction led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, supported by the Kashmir high court bar association, the Dukhtaran-e-Millat, traders and several other groups, gave the strike call.
A 72-year-old man was held for allegedly disrupting communal harmony and organising a protest without permission at the Jama Masjid area in New Delhi recently against the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad, police said.
The divide within separatists in Kashmir has come to the fore again -- on the controversial issuance of a fatwa against stone pelting as a form of protest."Stone pelting cannot be justified. Islam is about discipline and if the leaders are asking people to refrain from stone pelting then they should adhere to these directions. Prophet Muhammad too has asked us to refrain from it," Jamiat-e-Ahli-Hadees president Maulana Showkat Ahmed Shah said on Sunday.
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 assailants claimed they hacked Lal to death to avenge an alleged insult to Islam.
Amid outrage over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by the Bharatiya Janata Party's now-sacked two functionaries, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said it is high time Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the 'proliferation of hate speech and Islamophobic incidents' in the country, asserting that his silence is interpreted by some as condoning what has been happening.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly sending a team to Pakistan to look for more information regarding David Coleman Headley, the alleged American terror suspect of Pakistani origin who was arrested in Chicago in October.
Over 1.5 million Muslims from around the world have flooded into the holy cities of Mecca and Medina for the annual Haj pilgrimage.
