The officer issued the notice on 10 June, warning mosques against any hate speech or content during the Friday prayer sermon.
The Kannur city police commissioner has promised to investigate the matter. (Creative Commons)
The SHO of the Mayyil police station in the Kannur district of Kerala has been transferred over a notice issued to local mosques that the CMO has deemed was unwarranted.
The station house officer issued the notice on 10 June, warning mosques that there should not be any hate speech or content during the Friday prayer sermon that could disrupt the communal harmony in the state.
The notice caused a furore in the regional Muslim community, with political and religious leaders pressuring the local authorities to act on it.
The notice was issued against the backdrop of unrest prevailing in the country in the wake of former BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s remarks about Prophet Mohammed.
The notice issued by the Mayyil Police Station SHO. (Supplied)
It warned that action would be taken against people who delivered speeches that resulted in communal disharmony.
Following criticism, the Chief Minister’s Office issued a statement on 15 June condemning the officer’s action.
The CMO statement described that the notice as completely unwarranted and contrary to the view of the LDF government.
“The government doesn’t believe that Juma Masjids are propagating communal hatred. That is why the authorities took immediate action against the officer as it came to their notice,” it said.
“The officer issued a wrong notice without understanding the state government policy and the Director-General of Police has removed the officer from his post,” the statement said.
The SHO has since been transferred to the Thalassery Coastal Police Station.
Various Muslim outfits and opposition parties criticised the notice.
“There are around 100 mosques under the Mayyil police station jurisdiction. None of them has a history of propagating hate speech,” Youth League (Kannur district) secretary Shamseer Mayyil told South First.
“It is suspicious that only four Juma Masjids were served this notice. All of these mosque’s imams got the notice on Friday morning. This is an attempt to instil fear in the mind of Muslim clerics,” he added.
Haris Azhari, Imam of the Mayyil Juma Masjid, said the notice was reflective of the language used in Sangh Parivar’s rhetoric.
“I have been working as the Imam of the Masjid for five years,” he said. “Not once in my life have I propagated hate speech.”
He added: “This notice will give an impression to the general public that mosques were used as a platform to propagate communal hatred. This notice will add fuel to the Sangh Parivar’s hatred campaign against Muslims.“
The Indian Union Muslim League’s Kannur district secretary Abdul Kareem Chelary, along with others, visited the district police commissioner’s office on Monday to file a complaint against the SHO.
“He told us that he hasn’t given any instruction to the officer to issue the notice. He promised us that he would look into the matter and take appropriate action against the officer,” Chelary told South First.
Sunni Mahallu Federation, an association of Muslim mosques under Samasta Kerala Jamyiyathul Ulama, also demanded action against the officer.
The Kannur city police commissioner told South First that he had received the complaint from the mosque authorities and would investigate the matter.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) vice-president VT Balram took to social media to criticise the notice.
His Facebook post mentioned the recent alleged hate speech by veteran politician PC George at a temple event in Vennala in Kochi and the Pala Bishop’s propaganda on narcotic jihad.
He asked whether the LDF government was going to issue notices to temple committees in the state to ban propagandists.
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