MUMBAI: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday said the state police would arrest Sharjeel Usmani, a former student of Aligarh Muslim University, for his “offensive remarks ” at an event organised by the Elgar Parishad on January 30.
“The police have checked the video clippings of Elgar Parishad event held in Pune and a case has been registered against Usmani for his offensive remarks. He is not currently in Maharashtra but we will arrest him from whichever state he is in, be it Bihar, UP, Gujarat or elsewhere,” Deshmukh tweeted.
Meanwhile, a senior police officer said the Pune police on Tuesday registered a case against Usmani under IPC Section 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground religion, etc).
The opposition BJP has been demanding action against Usmani, accusing him of hurting religious sentiments with his speech at the event.
Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil had written to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath seeking action against Usmani for his statement “against Hindu religion”.
He claimed the MVA government would not take action against Usmani.
Former CM writes to his successor for action
Like Chandrakant Patil, Leader of Opposition and BJP legislator Devendra Fadnavis too sought action against the former AMU student.
Fadnavis has written to Maharashtra CM demanding action against Usmani for his ‘offensive’ statement.