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Bareilly police on alert after Maulana Tauqeer’s mass religious conversion call
While addressing media persons in Bareilly on Monday, the IMC chief Maulana Tauqeer Raza said that the IMC had sought permission from the district administration to organise a mass marriage and religious conversion programme on July 21.
LUCKNOW The Bareilly police and district administration are on alert after Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) UP chief Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan announced plans for the mass marriages of five couples following their conversion to Islam on July 21.
Bareilly Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anurag Arya confirmed that the city magistrate received an application regarding the mass marriages and conversions from IMC organisational in-charge Nadeem Qureshi. He said the police and local intelligence unit were investigating the matter and would send a report to the district administration.
He, however, assured residents of Bareilly that nobody would be allowed to disturb the communal harmony of the district.
While addressing media persons in Bareilly on Monday, the IMC chief Maulana Tauqeer Raza said that the IMC had sought permission from the district administration to organise a mass marriage and religious conversion programme on July 21. The cleric’s statement has triggered controversy, with several Hindu outfits accusing him of attempting to disturb communal harmony by organising such an event just ahead of the Hindu holy month of Sawan.
National spokesman of Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha, Shishir Chaturvedi, said on Tuesday that the cleric, who was already a key accused in inciting violence and riots in Bareilly in 2010, was attempting to incite similar violence again. He demanded Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath order a detailed inquiry into the incident and arrest the cleric.
Earlier, on March 2, 2010, riots erupted in Bareilly on the day of Juloos-e-Mohammadi following a clash between two groups. Tauqeer Raza allegedly delivered an inflammatory speech while addressing a crowd, after which a mob torched a police post and houses belonging to members of a community were set on fire. Curfew was later imposed in the city for around four weeks, and Raza was named as an accused in the FIR lodged for inciting violence.
Although the police later gave Raza a clean chit, the Fast Track Court-I issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against him earlier this year. The trial court mentioned in its order that Tauqeer Raza, who allegedly instigated the riots, was not included in the chargesheet despite having sufficient evidence and considered him the mastermind of the riots.
