By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: Some 37 anti-blasphemy Muslim protestors of Jalna, nearly 350 kms from Mumbai, were remanded to judicial custody Tuesday after spending five days in police custody and were sent to jail in nearby district Aurangabad. Jalna has no jail.
People of Jalna meeting the duty officer
Police arrested and filed FIR against 56 Muslim youths on 22nd November when they were protesting against an alleged act of blasphemy on social networking site Facebook and asking the shopkeepers to shutter down. They were charged for dacoiti under section 395 and half murder under section 307. There were 4 juvenile students who were kept in remand home for kids.
Mujeeb, a teacher in Jalna told TwoCircles.net, “The kids were released earlier, other 37 got MCR (magistrate custody remand) today and can get bail from the session court.”
tense situation in Jalna on 22nd November, 2011
He also informed that 6th December, when Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992, is approaching, and there is municipal election on 10th December. Therefore, people in Jalna are thinking that the youths may not get bail before 10th December.
The protestors were agitating against some blasphemous pictures on Facebook on 21st November and they burnt a state transport bus and allegedly broke mirrors of some shops. As the news spread, shopkeepers started shutting down their shops.
Shops in Jalna closed down
Father of two youths who were arrested along others died due to heart attack. Samajwadi Party demanded release of these youths and compensation for the family of the man who died of heart attack. In a letter to the Home Minister of Maharashtra R R Patil, The party also complained against the police of Jalna that the sections imposed on these protesters are too harsh.
[Pictures by Liyakat Ali, Asia Express, Aurangabad]