LUCKNOW: Registration of a criminal case against Muslim cleric Maulana Sajid Rashidi for objectionable remarks against Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav has snowballed into a big political row.
Rashidi had remarked over Dimple's recent visit to a mosque with her husband and Kannauj MP Akhliesh Yadav along with other SP MPs, for a meeting.
The case was registered at Vibhuti Khand Police station in Lucknow.
While Maulana, on July 28, stood by his statement, saying it was being 'unnecessarily stretched', the NDA MPs protested against his statement at Parliament seeking SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s response over the statement.
The Maulana had made a few derogatory remarks against the Mainpuri MP during a televised debate recently. The complaint, filed by a local resident, Pravesh Yadav, accused Rashidi of making statements that were not only derogatory and misogynistic, but also highly provocative and aimed at inciting religious disharmony and communal tension.
Initially, a plethora of Muslim clerics gave their strong reactions against the SP MPs, led by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, visiting a mosque in New Delhi for political confabulations stating that the mosques were not the place for such meetings.
The controversy deepened with cleric Maulana Sajid Rashidi’s comment that Dimple Yadav was inappropriately attired with her head uncovered on the mosque premises and that it was anti-Islamic.
On July 28, the NDA MPs held a protest outside the Parliament against All India Imam Association (AIIA) President Maulana Sajid Rashidi's derogatory remark against Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav.
Even the SP MP Ikra Hassan from Kairana condemned the cleric’s statement calling it a shameful act and demanding strictest action against the Maulana.
She said it was inappropriate to comment on the attire of a woman MP and that such people should face social boycott. “They are neither some religious heads nor are they custodians of any religions or faith. They do not have the right to give such sweeping comments over any woman MP,” said Hassan.
As a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against the cleric, he asserted that he did not say anything wrong and that an issue was being made out of it unnecessarily.
“My statement is being unnecessarily made into an issue to run a narrative. I did not say anything wrong," Maulana Sajid Rashidi said while talking to media persons.
“In the society and place I come from, if a woman is not wearing a veil over her head, people say, ‘She’s roaming around uncovered, why hasn’t she taken a veil? It’s not like I committed a terrorist attack. This issue has been blown out of proportion," maintained the Maulana.
Later, amid the protest by the NDA MPs, wherein, they questioned the guarded silence of SP chief Akhliesh Yadav over the issue, Dimple Yadav said it would have been better had the Bharatiya Janata Party, instead of protesting against the cleric’s remark, stood for the women of Manipur when their objectionable footages were going viral on social media.
“The way the leaders of the BJP gave statements on our woman army officers during ‘Operation Sindoor,’ it would have been better if they (the NDA) stood with them," she added.
Meanwhile, the BJP MPs and leaders accused the SP chief of appeasing the Muslim community by keeping mum over the sensitive issue.
In his complaint, Pravesh Yadav alleged that Rashidi’s comments, made publicly on social media and national television, were “an affront to a woman’s dignity" and appeared to be a deliberate attempt to provoke unrest, it showed.
“Such statements hurt not only women’s dignity but also threaten the unity, integrity, and peace of the nation," he mentioned in the complaint submitted at Vibhuti Khand police station.
Pravesh Yadav also alleged that Rashidi’s language and tone indicated an “anti-national mindset" and linked him to a group “working to disturb social harmony in India."
“Such elements are a direct threat to the secular, democratic, and inclusive fabric of the country," the complaint added.
The case against the cleric was registered under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc), and 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), among others.
Provisions under the Information Technology Act were also invoked for the circulation of the content on digital platforms.