BJP’s youth head of Kanpur Harshit Srivastava was arrested for sharing a derogatory post on Twitter on the prophet Mohammad.
A case was lodged against Srivastava with the Colonelgunj Police.
The arrest comes amidst the derogatory comments on the prophet Mohammad by the ruling party BJP’s national leaders have been triggering a massive diplomatic fallout with several nations raising the issue with India.
The tweet by Harshit Srivastava, a photoshot now stands deleted, reported Hindustan Times.
Srivastava has been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.
He has also been booked under Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act.
Last week, the Kanpur city witnessed violence after a Hindu mob attacked a protest led by Muslims against the derogatory comments of BJP leader Nupur Sharma on the prophet Muhammed.
On Friday, a Muslim organisation called to shut down shops at the Parade Market – one of the biggest wholesale markets in the city – over the comments made by Sharma about prophet Mohammed in a televised debate. The clashes began when the Hindu groups started hurling stones at protesting Muslims. Videos showed the Hindu mob attacking Muslims in the presence of cops.
Following Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued directives to UP Director general of police (DGP) to invoke Gangster Act and National Security Act (NSA) against the “trouble makers,” at least 36 Muslims were booked under the draconian NSA in Kanpur.
