Khalil-ur-Rahman Sajjad Nomani, the spokesperson of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), a non-governmental body that oversees the application of Muslim Personal Law (Shariat), has congratulated the Taliban for taking over Afghanistan.
"This Hindi Muslim salutes you. Since the moment you have taken over control of Afghanistan, you announced to re-start government offices. This is praiseworthy," Nomani said in a YouTube video.
"You were empty-handed at the start of this war. You achieve this success on your own," Nomani went on. "You have spread a message worldwide that a community which is ready to die for its goal, no power in can defy them."
Many social media users criticised Nomani's statement, with well-known Muslim Rubika Liyaquat tweeting in Hindi: "Seeing your immense love for the Taliban, You should not stay away from Talibanis. I will pay for your Afghanistan ticket."
Businessman Arun Pudur also criticised Nomani's comments and tagged the state police in a tweet to drew their attention to the matter.
Despite the backlash on social media, AIMPLB has issued no official statement considering Nomani's statements.
Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh state police booked Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Barq and two others over alleged remarks that compare the Taliban to India's freedom fighters. However, Barq issued a statement saying he did not make any such remark and that whatever he had said had been misinterpreted.
In a similar incident, on Tuesday AIMPLB Secretary Maulana Umrain Mahfuz Rahmani also praised the Islamist group for capturing Kabul on Twitter, calling the take over an "extraordinary success."
Tweeting in the Urdu language, he added that "power decisions" like the Taliban's rise are "made in Heaven and not on Earth."
After the negative reaction online, Rahmani clarified that his comments reflect his own personal view, and not that of the AIMPLB.
On 15 August, Taliban fighters regained control of Afghanistan after ruling the country from 1996 to 2001. The group has announced a "general amnesty" for all Afghan government officials and urged them to return to work, including women, in line with Sharia law.
*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia and many other countries.