By TCN News,
Kozhikode: Muslim League state secretary Dr MK Muneer has been drawn into a new controversy regarding insult to Prophet Muhammed. It is said that the book ‘Islamum Sthreekalum’ published by the Olive Books has contents insulting Prophet Muhammed and abusing Islam. Khan Shajahan, a native of Pathanamthitta, has reportedly filed a case against Muneer, publisher of the book, and KM Venugopal, translator, in the Kozhikode Judicial Magistrate Court IV.
The Olive Publications which published the book is reportedly owned by Dr MK Muneer. The book is the translation of Moroccan author Fatima Merenessy’s ‘The Veil and the Male Elite’. The dead body of the prophet is referred to by insulting words in the book, accused Khan Shajahan in a press conference. Mr Shajahan was the general secretary of the Muslim League in Pathanamthitta earlier. He said that he had left the party before 10 years.
Meanwhile, the Olive Publications reportedly responded that all copies of the book had been withdrawn from book stores before one and half years due to problems in translation. The publication added that the new work was under way with corrections made.
However, Khan Shajahan has again come up against the argument of the Olive Publications that the book was withdrawn one and half years ago. He argues that it has not yet been even one and half years since the book was published. He also reportedly presented a bill receipt showing the book bought from DC Books, Thiruvananthapuram on March 3, 2011. He added that Muneer was trying to escape through lies.
Dr MK Muneer has been under immense pressure from within the Muslim League with regard to the new revelations on the ice-cream parlour sex scandal case against party general secretary PK Kunhalikkutty through Indiavision news channel, in which Dr Muneer is the Chairman. Muneer was reportedly asked to step down from the channel by League leaders and members, but he refused and offered to step down as secretary of the party which the party was not ready to accept. Though Muneer has supporters in the party, Kunhalikkutty has the upper hand even after the scandal, according to reports.
Several books have been published and distributed with insulting references to the Prophet in Kerala in recent times, according to reports. There have been reports of a book named ‘Chinvad Palam,’ with derogatory remarks about the Prophet and Islam, which became controversial. Prof TJ Joseph, who was the lecturer of Malayalam in the Newman College Thodupuzha, was attacked and his right hand chopped off by a gang (in July 2010) allegedly as he had prepared a question paper with derogatory remarks about the Prophet.