Soon after razing his house, police claimed that Afreen Fatima’s father, Javed Mohammad, was the mastermind of the protest in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh in the wake of row over Prophet Muhammad remarks.
TCN Staff
PRAYAGRAJ (UTTAR PRADESH) — Accused of being the key conspirator behind violence at Atala area of Prayagraj that started after Friday prayers on June 10 over remarks made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, state general secretary of Welfare Party of India Javed Mohammad’s double storey house was razed to the ground by Prayagraj Development Authority team on June 12. The drive was carried out amidst heavy police presence headed by senior police officials.
As the drive was ending, police officials suddenly made claims of recovering two firearms (a .312 and 315 bore pistol) and some ammunition from Javed’s home. SSP Prayagraj Ajay Kumar Pandey said that besides the weapons, police teams have also came across some objectionable literature, books, and documents along with pamphlets and posters that contained remarks against the court.
Javed Mohammad was arrested on June 13 and continues to be in prison.
Although police officials did not provided full details of the books and literature, they said that such material indicates 57 years old Javed’s keen interest in Islam. Some of the books were printed at Lahore and one of them titled Is Islam a violent Religion is written by a professor of a university at Mecca. Another book was titled Rise and Fall of Muslim Ummah written by Islamic Scholar Dr Israr Ahmad. Posters with messages– Muslim Lives Matter and When Injustice becomes law rebellion becomes duty were found from the house during demolition drive, police sources told TwoCircles.net.
Wasting no time, local and national media portrayed the recovery of literature as some big achievement of police which would establish Javed as an Islamic hardliner who was involved violence. Reports by local newspapers even claimed that Javed has special interest in Pakistan and he has rebellious attitude.
While some media reports trying to project the alleged documents and books as Jihadist literature, police on Wednesday issued a press release with claims that a torn printed pamphlet was found at Javed’s home.
As per SSP Prayagraj, Ajay Kumar, the contents in the pamphlet say–“We all have to reach Atala on June 10 on Friday. We have to assemble there and attack all those who may try to stop us. We cannot rely on the court”. SSP told TwoCircles.net and added that this was crucial evidence and was included in the investigations against Javed.
Javed’s son Mohd Imam told TwoCircles.net. that there were some books on Islamic history and religion and no objectionable literature. Media was present when the house was being vacated and nothing objectionable was found. “The claims made by police are false,” he said.
“Nothing was found when our house was being vacated in full view of public and media. However, later police claimed to find firearms and objectionable literature from the debris of our home which is ridiculous. Nothing objectionable except some books of Islamic scholars were kept at my home. These are all attempts to implicate my father in false cases” Javed’s daughter Sumaiya told TwoCircles.net.
Javed Mohd’s friend and lawyer KK Roy told TwoCircles.net that police did not followed the rules while conducting search of the house and showing recoveries of firearms and objectionable literature. The claims made by police are fabricated and will be challenged before the court, Roy added.
“In fact Javed was himself close to the administration and acted as a bridge between officials and members of Muslim community on many occasions. He was also present at the peace committee meeting a day before the violence at Atala. He made appeals to people for maintaining peace from his Facebook account” Roy said.