Nupur Sharma of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who took part in the televised debate, made controversial remarks about Islamists and the Prophet. Following this, Delhi-based BJP executive Naveen Kumar Jindal also took to Twitter to express his support for Nupur Sharma’s speech.
This led to protests and condemnation from various quarters. The party has taken steps to suspend both from the BJP in the wake of the international scandal.
However, the failure to take any legal action against the BJP members who had spoken and commented in a manner that disrupted religious harmony did not alleviate the issue.
The Delhi Special Branch has registered a case against Nupur Sharma, Naveen Kumar Jindal and journalist Saba Naqvi and registered two FIRs for speaking in a manner that promotes sectarianism.
Accordingly, Nupur Sharma has been prosecuted under sections 153 (inciting riots), 295 (disturbing religious harmony) and 505 (disturbing public peace). Similarly, another first information report has been recorded on Naveen Jindal, Shadab Chauhan, Saba Naqvi, Maulana Mufti Nadeem, Abdur Rahman, Kulsar Ansari and Anil Kumar Meena.
The operation was carried out by the Intelligence Agency (IFSO) of the Special Branch of the Delhi Police following the revelation of records related to sectarianism in the monitoring of the social media pages of the accused.
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