Javed Akhtar gets death threats

Noted lyricist Javed Akhtar has received death threats via email after he apparently called an Islamic cleric "insane" during a television debate about the fatwa against working women.

Noted lyricist Javed Akhtar has received death threats via email after he apparently called an Islamic cleric "insane" during a television debate about the fatwa against working women.

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Akhtar has informed the police about the messages which told him that "your countdown has begun".

"I started getting a barrage of hate mails post my comments about the fatwa. They are of the opinion that by opposing the fatwa on Muslim working women, I am being anti-Islamic. I have informed the police and they have acted quickly and provided me with security" Akhtar told PTI.

"These fatwas are not influential. The society does not bother about it. Some people were very outraged by my comments and sent me hate mail but this person has sent me couple of mails that are threatening," Akhtar said.

Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, Deoband had recently issued a fatwa (religious edict) saying it was un-Islamic for women to work in offices in proximity with men and decreed that acceptance of their earnings by a family was against the Sharia.

The Sharia law prohibits proximity of women and men in a workplace, said a recent fatwa issued by a bench of clerics headed by Chief Mufti Habib-ur-Rehman.

Akhtar had condemned the fatwa during a discussion on TV following which the scriptwriter was told to apologise or face strict action.