JAIPUR, Jul 16 : An Ajmer court acquitted on Tuesday all six people accused of raising the controversial “Sar Tan Se Juda” slogan from the gates of the Moinuddin Chishti Dargah following suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s derogatory comments against the Prophet in 2022.
Public prosecutor Gulam Nazmi said Ajmer Dargah ‘khadim’ Gohar Chisti, Tazim Siddiki, Farook Zamali, Nasir, Riyaz Hasan and Moin have been acquitted in the case.
He, however, said that the grounds for the acquittal would be clear only after examining the court’s order.
“All accused have been acquitted under all sections. An appeal against the verdict will be made after examining the order,” he said.
He said the case was registered at Ajmer’s Dargah police station under relevant IPC sections for unlawful assembly, rioting and provocation to break public peace among others.
It was mentioned in the FIR that Gohar Chisti provoked people with the slogan “Gustakhi-e-Nabi Ki Ek Hi Saza, Sar Tan Se Juda, Sar Tan Se Juda” using loudspeakers from a religious place.
Roughly translated, it means, “There is only one punishment for insulting the Prophet – beheading.”
The trial was held in the court of an additional district judge.
Chisti was accused of delivering a hate speech in the presence of police from the shrine’s main gate called Nizam Gate on June 17, 2022, shortly before a rally of the Muslim community against Sharma’s remark.
Chisti, the main accused in the case, was arrested from Hyderabad in July 2022.
Reacting to the judgment, BJP MLA Balmukundarcharya said in Jaipur that the accused were acquitted due to weak prosecution and the government should ensure that they were punished.
He also demanded that the government file an appeal against the judgment.
Deputy Mayor of Ajmer Municipal Corporation Neeraj Jain said the judgment was the result of an unfair investigation.
“The investigation was done and a charge sheet was filed during the former Congress government’s rule and because of an unfair investigation and the lack of strong prosecution during the former government’s time, the accused were acquitted,” he said.
Public prosecutor Gulam Nazmi said that apart from electronic evidence of the speech, eyewitnesses were examined.
He claimed that it was after the controversial slogan raised outside the dargah that tailor Kanhaiya Lal was murdered in Udaipur on June 28th.
Lal was murdered by two cleaver-wielding men for allegedly insulting Islam in his social media post. (PTI)
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