Indian apex court slams BJP official who committed blasphemy

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Friday declared the blasphemous remarks by suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma the cause of igniting tensions across the country that subsequently led to the gory murder of a Hindu tailor by two men in Udaipur.

Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman for India’s ruling right-wing until her sacking this month, sparked a furore in the Islamic world when she made derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on a TV show. The remarks sparked widespread protests in India and abroad with Muslims demanding she be severely punished, and the row has since sparked violence in Udaipur, and later the beheading of the tailor on camera.

The court, during the hearing of Sharma’s plea seeking transfer of multiple FIRs filed against her to Delhi, said that she created a row that “set [the] country on fire.” “The way she has ignited emotions across the country. This lady [Sharma] is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country,” NDTV quoted the apex court as stating. The court called out Sharma to apologise to the entire country [India] for putting its national security at stake. “She faces threats or she has become a security threat,” the judges reprimanded. They also snubbed the politician’s request of “equal treatment” and “no discrimination”, saying that people get arrested immediately when she files the FIRs and “no one can dare to touch you” when the FIRs are against her. Sharma, however, has withdrawn her pleas where she had cited threats to her.