Stir sparks tension in Bidar, 1 arrested: Police

The mob gathered outside the Basavakalyan police station questioned police on delay in arresting the accused for allegedly circulating an objectionable post against Prophet Mohammed in a messaging app. The mob dispersed only after the arrest was made in their presence.

A man was arrested on Monday night from Bidar district’s Basavakalyan town for allegedly circulating an objectionable post against Prophet Mohammed in a messaging app, hours after a large number of Muslims launched a protest outside a police station leading to a tense situation in the town.

A man was arrested from Bidar district’s Basavakalyan for allegedly circulating an objectionable post against Prophet Mohammed, hours after a large number of Muslims launched a protest outside a police station leading to a tense situation in the town. (Representative Photo)

The mob gathered outside the Basavakalyan police station questioned police on delay in arresting the accused. The mob dispersed only after the arrest was made in their presence.

As the protest lasted several hours, a tense situation prevailed in Basavakalyan. According to police, a man, Rajkumar Malagi, had allegedly posted an objectionable post against Prophet Mohammed on WhatsApp. The post has been in circulation since June 11.

An FIR was registered against Malagi under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation by anonymous communication, defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion and hurting religious sentiments.

“It was a difficult situation for us. Similar protests had turned violent in Hubballi and Bengaluru. As the mob was increasing, we decided to take the man into custody in presence of the protesters so that they dispersed,” a senior police officer said wishing anonymity.

The officer was referring to the incidents reported in Bengaluru’s DJ Halli in August 2020 and violence reported in Huballi district earlier this year. In both cases, riots were triggered by a derogatory post against a community. Social media and instant messaging apps were used to mobilise the crowd and an instigation claiming police didn’t act against the perpetrators who made the derogatory posts.

The riots in DJ Halli were triggered by a Facebook post by Naveen P, nephew of Congress MLA from Pulakeshinagar R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. On August 11, 2020, a mob gathered in DJ Halli and KG Halli areas creating unrest after police sought time to take action over a complaint filed against the post.

In the Hubbali case, the violence was the fallout of an alleged social media post, which others took objection to and lodged a police complaint. The post allegedly showed a digitally altered image of a saffron flag flying over a masjid.

Subsequently, the person who made the post – identified as Abhishek Hiremath, a resident of Hubbali town – was arrested after a case was registered based on a complaint by residents at Udupi town police station. However, not satisfied with the action, a few people gathered around the police station, which led to violence.

When asked why the man was not taken into custody earlier in the Bidar case, the officer said the police department was awaiting cyber forensic evidence before arresting him.

The incident comes as seers of various Veerashaiva and Lingayat mutts took out a rally in Bidar on Sunday demanding the state government to order a survey at Peer Pasha Bungalow in the city by the Archaeological Department of India to find out if it was constructed on the “Anubhava Mantapa”, which is a religious institution for the Lingayat community.

The district had also witnessed tensions over the recent comments by suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma against Prophet Mohammed.