HEADS OF INDIA'S THE STATESMAN NEWSPAPER ARRESTED OVER MUSLIM SLIGHT
February 13th 2009 06:05
The editor and publisher of a leading English-language Indian daily have been arrested on charges of “hurting the religious feelings” of Muslims.
BBC News reports that the Statesman's editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints. Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK's Independent daily in its February 5 edition.
The article was entitled, “Why should I respect these oppressive religions?”
It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise religions. In it, the author, Johann Hari, writes, “'I don't respect the idea that we should follow a 'Prophet' who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him.”
Kumar and Sinha appeared in court on Wednesday and were granted bail. Angry Muslims have been demonstrating in front of the offices of the Statesman since its republication of the article. Some Muslims close to the Jamiat-e-Ulema e Hind (The Organisation of Indian Scholars, a leading Islamic group in India) later filed a complaint with police alleging that the publication had “outraged their religious feelings, ” which is an offence under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code.
BBC News reports that the Statesman's editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints. Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK's Independent daily in its February 5 edition.
The article was entitled, “Why should I respect these oppressive religions?”
It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise religions. In it, the author, Johann Hari, writes, “'I don't respect the idea that we should follow a 'Prophet' who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him.”
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