A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician, Raja Singh, was arrested on Tuesday in the Indian state of Telangana for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
Police arrested him after massive protests erupted in Hyderabad over his remarks.
A case has been registered against the BJP legislator for hurting religious sentiments under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) -- Sections 295, 505, and 153A.
Section 295 pertains to destroying, damaging, and defiling any place of worship or any object held sacred by any class with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class.
Section 505 is related to making a statement with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community to commit any offense against any other class or community, and 153A is about promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.
According to media reports, protests erupted in Hyderabad at midnight on Monday in front of city Police Commissioner C.V. Anand’s office and other parts of the city after the BJP politician released a video of his remarks.
Meanwhile, BJP has suspended him from the party and also gave him 10 days to reply to a show cause notice asking him to explain why he shouldn't be expelled.
BJP Suspends T. Raja Singh from Party over His Alleged Derogatory Remarks on Prophet Muhammad
© Photo : Twitter/@navath341
In the video clip released on YouTube, he also verbally abused comedian Munawar Faruqui and his mother.
Singh, in his 10-minute long video, said: “… I thought to myself, ‘He is abusing Lord Ram and Sita’ so I should research about the almighty of his and people who wear round caps (Muslims). The moment I did it, I found something very shocking in a video. The video said it is about a 53-year-old man. In that, it says that the man married a six-year-old.”
The BJP lawmaker was taken into preventive custody on Friday after he tried to disrupt a comedy show along with his supporters.