The police in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal have arrested a Muslim restaurant owner for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by selling mutton wrapped in a newspaper that had pictures of Hindu deities.
The man has been identified as Mohammed Talib who owns a roadside eatery in Sambhal and was arrested 'hurting religious sentiments' following a complaint by right-wing outfit Hindu Jagran Manch's district president Kailash Gupta. He accused Talib of 'hurting religious sentiments deliberately'.
Police said he tried to attack the cops with a knife when they had gone to arrest him.
News agency PTI quoted the FIR saying that Talib attacked the cops with a knife with the 'intention to kill'. He has been booked under IPC Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 307 (attempt to murder).
The police said that Talib was arrested immediately after receiving the complaint. News reports quoted the workers at Talib's eatery who said that it was a matter of chance that the newspaper in which meat was wrapped had pictures of Hindu deities and there was no deliberate attempt to hurt any sentiments.
The incident comes amid a communally charged atmosphere in the country. The situation recently flared up after the Bharatiya Janata Party's Nupur Sharma made disparaging remarks on Prophet Mohammed during a debate on Times Now news channel. There were widespread protests in several Indian cities last month during which two teenagers were killed in alleged police firing in Ranchi.
A Hindu tailor was hacked to death last week in Udaipur by two Muslim men for supporting Nupur Sharma's remarks on social media. The duo recorded the killing and shared it on social media. In another video, the two men confessed to their crime and even threatened to kill Prime minister Narendra Modi while brandishing knives.
Days later, a chemist in Maharashtra's Amravati was allegedly killed by two Muslim men for supporting Nupur Sharma's remarks on social media.