Muslim community in U.P. demands strict action against accused held for objectionable social media post

Muslim community members in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur on Saturday (September 13, 2025) submitted a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu demanding that a 45-year-old man, arrested on Friday (September 12, 2025) for allegedly posting objectionable comments on social media, be booked under the National Security Act.

The accused allegedly posted objectionable remarks against the Quran and Prophet Muhammad on social media on September 12, prompting a large crowd to gather outside the police station and raise slogans.

“Our social media monitoring team found the source of the post, after which the police arrested the accused. Members of the Muslim community surrounded the police station and staged a protest. We arrived at the police station and informed the protesters that the accused had been arrested. They dispersed peacefully afterwards. I appeal to the people not to post anything against any religion or harm communal harmony,” said Rajesh Dwivedi, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Shahjahanpur. 

The police registered a case against the accused under sections 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 302 (uttering words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). 

In response to Friday’s (September 14, 2025) developments, the Congress accused the BJP government of “spurring such incidents”.

“The fact is that those inciting communal tension through objectionable comments believe that nothing will happen to them due to the support of the ruling government,” said senior leader of the party’s U.P. unit, Anil Yadav.