The Hyderabad City Police last week invoked the PD Act against Raja Singh after unrest in the city due to his Prophet Muhammad remarks.
Published Aug 30, 2022 | 7:53 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 30, 2022 | 7:54 PM
Syed Abdahu Quadri alias Kashaf. (Screengrab)
The Hyderabad City Police on Tuesday, 30 August, invoked the Preventive Detention (PD) Act against Syed Abdahu Quadri alias Kashaf, who chanted the “Sar Tan Se Juda” slogan in a protest against suspended BJP MLA T Raja Singh. Kashaf was subsequently sent to Chanchalguda jail.
The cops last week invoked the PD Act against Raja Singh himself, making him the first politician in the Telugu-speaking states against him such an action was taken.
There was unrest in Hyderabad after Raja Singh’s comments against Prophet Muhammad. Protests broke out in several parts of the city. It was at one such protest that 27-year-old Kashaf raised the slogan “Gustakh-e-rasool ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda”. (Rough translation: “Beheading is the only punishment for one who disrespects the Prophet.”)
The police said in a statement that on the intervening night of 22-23 August, Kashaf, along with a number of supporters staged a dharna in front of the office of the Commissioner of Police of Hyderabad City, protesting against the posting of an offensive video by T Raja Singh.
“He [Kashaf] demanded his [Raja Singh’s] immediate arrest,” the Hyderabad City Police said.
Hundreds of young men from the Muslim community from all over the city descended at the office and joined the protest, the cops added.
They claimed Kashaf instigated the protestors to raise provocative and inflammatory slogans, like the one above, thereby creating “hatred and ill-will between the Muslim and Hindu religious communities in the limits of Hyderabad City Police Commissionerate”. This, they said, adversely affected the maintenance of public order.
The police added that videos of the protest went viral on social-media platforms and were broadcast on national television channels, creating disturbance to public order throughout the country.
The cops also said Kashaf had been habitually posting provocative and inflammatory messages and videos on social media, with an intention to promote enmity between Hindus and Muslims, cause a breach of communal peace, and disturb public tranquillity.
The police added that the provocative and inciting slogans caught the attention of the gullible youngsters, which led to widespread protests with violent incidents in different parts of Hyderabad City.
“The details of the violent incidents were reported in the limits of Moghalpura, Shahinayathgunj, Bhavaninagar and Hussainialam Police Stations, in which the protestors damaged police vehicles, pelted stones at a police station, and attacked a hotel vendor and private cab driver,” said the cops.
The police said Kashaf was also involved in four offences within the Hyderabad Police Commissionerate, among which three pertained to creating hatred between Muslims and Hindus. In most of the cases, he had been booked under Sections 153(A), 505(2) and 504 of the IPC, said the cops.
