By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: Not satisfied with the immediate transfer of the cop and an order of preliminary departmental inquiry by Nanded SP, Maharashtra Action Committee, an NGO, has decided to raise the matter with judiciary terming it to be a serious matter of failure in protecting rights of minority community.
The members of Maharashtra Action committee on Monday had a discussion with lawyers and amidst different opinions have finally decided to approach the Bombay High Court with a request for a detailed inquiry and to term such issuance of notice as unconstitutional.
Muslim leaders in Nanded demand action against PI issuing notice aganist a Mosque. (Photo Courtesy : Aurangabadtimes)
Masjid-e-Sumayya at B and C Colony in Nanded had received earlier in the month a notice under sec. 149 of CrPC refraining its members from speaking against state government’s enacted law banning Beef. The mosque also received notice not to appeal people to participate in any protest rallies against the state government.
The notice written in Marathi was issued under the signature of PI Subhash Rathod of the police station near Nanded Airport. It reads:
“आपणास या नोटीस द्वारे सुचित करण्यात येते कि आपण सदर मास्जीद्चे अध्यक्ष/सदर असून आपले कडून किवा आपले मस्जिद कोरकमिटी कडून नामाझचे दर्मियान शासनाचे गोवंश हत्या बंदी कायद्या विरोधात भाष्य किवा शासनाच्या विरोधातील मोर्चा मध्ये सहभाग होणे बाबत आवाहन करू नये व शासनास सहकार्य करावे.”
(Aapnas ya notice dware suchit karnyat yete ki aapan sadar masjidche adhyaksh/sadar asun aaple kadun kiwa aaple masjid core committee kadun namazche darmiyan shasnache gowansh hatya bandi kaydya virodhat bhashya kiwa shasnachya virodhatil morcha madhye sahbhag hone babat awahan karu nahye wa shasnas sahkarya karawe.)
That translates into English as:
“You are hereby informed through this notice that you are the President/Chief of the said Mosque; that you or any of the members of the core committee of the Mosque are called upon not to speak during namaz against the government’s enacted Cow progeny slaughtering law or appeal people to join protest rallies against government and thereby support the state and the authority.”
Soon after this notice was issued, a delegation of Muslim leaders from different political and social organization had met the city SP demanding action against PI Rathod for issuing such unconstitutional notice. Rathod was immediately transferred to Control room by the SP.
News agency PTI has reported that SP Nanded Paramjit Singh Dahiya as saying, “As soon as the matter was brought to our notice, Rathod was removed from the Airport police station and shifted to the control room.”
He also added, “Since the issue is serious, a preliminary inquiry has also been ordered into it,” he added.
However, Dahiya claimed that Rathod might have inadvertently missed the word “provocative” in the notice, which would have given an entirely different dimension to it.
“In the notice, instead of asking the organisers not to give a provocative speech, Rathod mistakenly typed only speech and missed the word provocative,” Dahiya said. He, however, added this was a serious lapse calling for departmental action.
Talking with TwoCircles.net, Azhar Tamboli, general secretary of Maharashtra Action Committee, said, “We have discussed with different lawyers and found that notice under sec 149 is issued when there is a strong possibility of commission of any cognizable offence. How can police direct Mosque (authorities) not to speak against government enactments? We see it as an attempt to pressurize minority communities and we will seek judicial intervention to safeguard the constitutional rights of the minorities.”
Notice
When asked if PI Rathod has already been transferred and the department inquiry is ordered by the SP, Tamboli said, “Transfer is not a punishment and holding a departmental inquiry is their (police’s) routine. We don’t see it to be an individual mistake or error as claimed by Nanded SP but see it as an attempt by the institution of police as a whole as people don’t see the nameplate of police but see and fear their uniform.”
He also said going through the notice: “It is abundantly clear that there was no scope of adding word ‘provocative’ in the notice as claimed by SP because adding that word, how would it justify their diktats to mosque not to appeal people from joining morchas? So SP’s excuse is merely an attempt to give some reason when no justifiable reason exist.”
“Judicial intervention is important in this matter as we need precedence to be set by judiciary for the rest of police force by issuing dictate,” Tamboli said as he explained the reasons to raise the matter with the judiciary.
Related:
Maharashtra Police notice to mosque asking to refrain from speaking against beef ban in sermons