Two minor Muslim boys aged 16 and 17 have been booked in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly for allegedly listening to a Pakistani song on a mobile phone.
A first information report (FIR) has been lodged against Naeem and Mustkim of Singhai Murawan village of the Bhuta area of Bareilly district on April 13, according to Times of India.
The FIR against the teenagers was lodged on the complaint of a local resident, Ashish. When Ashish objected to the duo playing the song, the teenagers picked up a fight with him, PTI reported.
The two were picked up at 5 pm on Wednesday, and were detained by police the whole night at the station, their family told the newspaper.
The duo’s cousin, Saddam Hussain, said that his younger brother played the song for just 40 seconds, and that too by mistake. He also apologised later, but his apology was not accepted, Hussain said.
The duo was listening to Pakistani child artist and actress Aayat Arif’s ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ song.
“They played the song without realising the consequences,” another cousin told TOI.
“I do not know whether the youths were detained by the police overnight as I was told that they were being called for questioning this morning. There is a provision for serving notices in such cases as the authenticity of a video recorded is not verified. I will ask a senior cop to monitor the investigation and provide a report,” senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Bareilly, Rohit Singh Sajwan, told Times of Indias
The teenagers have been slapped with sections 153B (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, according to PTI.
