Delhi Police Extends Protection to Nupur Sharma, Her Family, as International Outrage against her Anti-Islam Remarks Continue

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, June 7: Even as Centre is individually taking up with the enraged Arab countries to convince them that the BJP government did not share the blasphemous views of its suspended party workers on Prophet Mohammad, the Delhi Police has provided security to Nupur Sharma and her family on a complaint lodged by her that she was getting death threats over her controversial remarks on the Prophet, official sources said on Tuesday.

She had requested the police to provide security citing harassment and threats she had been receiving. “Ms. Sharma and her family have been provided police security after she alleged that she has been receiving threats and was being harassed over her remarks,” an official said.

The BJP on Sunday  suspended its spokesperson Sharma and expelled from the party its Delhi unit media chief Naveen Jindal as the row over their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad escalated and threatened to isolate India from the Muslim countries. Finding itself in the middle of an international outrage and very sharp reactions from countries like Kuwait, Qatar and Iran, the BJP issued a statement asserting that it respects all religions and strongly denounces insults of any religious personality.

Sharma’s comments, made during a TV debate nearly 10 days ago, and Jindal’s now-deleted tweets sparked a Twitter trend calling for a boycott of Indian products in some countries. After the action, Sharma withdrew her controversial statement unconditionally and claimed that her comments were a reaction to “continuous insult and disrespect towards our Mahadev (Lord Shiva)”.

Police said on May 28, its cyber cell unit received a complaint from Sharma against various persons about death threats and targeted hatred. Based on this complaint, an FIR was registered under IPC sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 507 (Criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) against unknown people. “During the probe, another complaint was received from Ms. Sharma against certain persons promoting enmity. Following this, Section 153A of IPC was added to the case,” the police said.

At least 15 countries including the UAE, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bahrain, Maldives, Libya, Turkey and Indonesia have lodged official protests against India over the controversial remarks. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the remarks and urged the United Nations to take necessary measures to ensure that the rights of minorities are protected in India.

The countries expressed their denunciation and rejection of insults of Prophet Muhammad, and demanded an apology from the government. ​At home, the opposition parties stepped up pressure for legal action against the two BJP leaders and accused the party of denting the country’s image at the international level.

As part of the fire-fighting operation, the foreign ministry said in a statement that the offensive tweets and comments “did not, in any way, reflect the views of the government. These are the views of fringe elements.” However, the spokesperson termed as “fringe element” because of the international outrage, was set up by the BJP in the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections from New Delhi constituency against the Aam Aadmi Party’s chief ministerial candidate Arvind Kejriwal. She had lost.

The visiting Indian vice-president Venkaiah Naidu who was in Qatar when the controversy over Nupur Sharma’s remarks broke out, had a hard time explaining to the Qatar government the “inclusive” character of the Narendra Modi government. “Inclusion’ is the firm foundation underlying the Indian constitutional architecture and it finds an echo in the philosophy of the Modi government which believes in ” sabka sath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas and sabka prayas” (together with all, development for all, the trust of all and effort of all), Naidu emphasised. Qatar was the first country to officially take up the issue with New Delhi.

According to the text of his speech issued by the Vice President Secretariat, Naidu also said, “Underlying our constitutional architecture is the firm foundation of ‘inclusion’, of leaving no one behind.” The 7.80 lakh strong Indian community in Qatar is a living bridge between the two countries, the vice president said.

India, Naidu pointed out, was Qatar’s third-largest trading partner. “Since March 2020, Qatar’s foreign direct investment in India has increased five folds. Over 50 wholly-owned Indian companies in Qatar are in diverse fields such as infrastructure, information technology, and energy and the 15,000 jointly owned companies are adding momentum to the India-Qatar economic partnership.

“We are building a comprehensive energy partnership. Cooperation between India and Qatar is strengthening in defence, security, healthcare and education. Yesterday, we agreed to establish an Indian Chair at Qatar University and to pursue cooperation in the fields of sports and culture. We also launched a start-up bridge between India and Qatar to link the innovative ecosystems of the two countries,” Naidu told the gathering in Doha. India and Qatar will soon mark the 50th anniversary of establishing full diplomatic relations, he said.

Meanwhile, the Mumbra Police in Mumbai on Tuesday summoned Sharma on June 22 to record her statement over her controversial remarks.