India: Cars Burned, Stones Thrown in Nationwide Muslim Anti-Blasphemy Protests

KOLKATA, INDIA - JUNE 10: Members of the Muslims community burn an image of now suspended
Samir Jana/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
John Hayward

Muslims across India on Friday continued protests sparked by comments from a now-suspended spokeswoman for the ruling Hindu-nationalist BJP party that were denounced as insulting to Islam’s Muhammad.  

The Times of India (TOI) reported that “vehicles were torched and vandalized, and sporadic incidents of sloganeering and stone-pelting” were reported from several locations.

TOI said a few police officers were injured “while controlling an angry mob near Hanuman Temple in Ranchi,” while former BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma was hanged in effigy near a vegetable market in Belagavi. 

According to the Hindustan Times, as of noon on Friday, 11 police officers and 12 protesters had been injured in Ranchi. Six more people were injured in Jharkhand, one of them with a bullet injury. Over 100 arrests were reported in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP members were angered by the mock hanging, denouncing it as a threat of violence against Sharma and demanding the police take it down.

Police described several other protests involving hundreds of Muslims as largely peaceful, including a large demonstration outside the Jama Masjid Islamic school in Delhi. Most of the Jama Masjid demonstrators dispersed after 15 minutes or so, but police said some lingered for hours afterward, waving placards that expressed their anger at Sharma and their devotion to Muhammad.

The situation was more tense in the disputed Jammu-Kashmir region, where police imposed a curfew, blocked the Internet, and shut some areas down to keep protests from getting out of hand.

BJP suspended Sharma and expelled a media director after the May 27 television appearance in which Sharma, in the midst of a heated discussion over a delicate situation involving the discovery of a Hindu sculpture on the grounds of a Muslim mosque, made a disparaging mention of Muhammad’s child bride Aisha.  

“You are marrying a six-year-old girl and having sex with her when she turned nine. Who did it? Prophet Muhammad,” Sharma snapped.

Some of the Muslims protesting on Friday demanded Sharma be prosecuted for blasphemy. She was booked in New Delhi on Thursday for “inciting people on divisive lines.” Sharma has requested police protection after claiming she received death threats.

Demonstrations were also held in Pakistan and Bangladesh on Friday. Slogans heard at a thousands-strong protest in Bangladesh included “Boycott all Indian products” and “Hang those who insult our prophet.” 

Some Bangladeshi Muslims are annoyed that their government values its relationship with India too highly to lodge a formal protest. In Pakistan, protesters burned Indian flags and called on all Muslim nations to break off diplomatic relations with India.

On Wednesday, a letter purportedly written by international terrorist organization al-Qaeda threatened to conduct suicide bombings against Indian targets to “defend the honor” of Muhammad. The Indian government said it was investigating the letter and has ordered police to break up any public gatherings that might be targeted by al-Qaeda bombers.

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