A 22-year-old youth has been arrested in the city for allegedly threatening to kill a young couple dressed in Muslim attire chanting “Jai Shri Ram”, the latest arrest in the ongoing drive against hate speech in Karnataka.
The youth, named Nayaz, can be heard giving death threats to the couple in an Instagram video he posted recently. The matter came to the attention of Bangalore police after the video clip went viral.
What apparently offended Nayaz was that the couple, whose origins are not known, were chanting “Jai Shri Ram” while being clad in Muslim clothes. The couple had uploaded a video, which Nayaz added as an inset to his rant video.
While the woman wore a burqa, the youngster seen with her was sporting a cap that Muslims wear. He also wore a cross around his neck. The police haven’t yet identified the couple or confirmed their religious background.
In the Deccani Urdu spoken by the community in Bangalore and its surroundings, Nayaz is seen rebuking the woman for wearing the burqa and the young man for wearing the cap while chanting “Jai Shri Ram”. He goes on to threaten to kill the couple if they dare to repeat the act before a “true Muslim”.
The police took note of the video on Thursday, located Nayaz, arrested him and booked him for hurting religious sentiments, issuing threats and wantonly giving provocative statements that could cause enmity between people.
A police source said Nayaz had admitted to recording the video and posting it on social media.
The state police have been on a mission to clamp down on hate speech ever since the Congress returned to power in the May elections. Chief minister Siddaramaiah had instructed the police department not to spare anyone from any faith or group involved in such acts.
Among those booked for hate speech are two BJP MLAs, one of them a former minister, for targeting Siddaramaiah. While former minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan was booked for his remarks to “finish off” Siddaramaiah, which he made in the run-up to the Assembly polls, Belthangady (in Dakshina Kannada) MLA Harish Poona was named in an FIR for falsely accusing the chief minister of murdering 24 Hindus.
The police at Yadgir in north Karnataka had in early August arrested two youths for threatening to kill anyone who criticised Prophet Mohammed after their Instagram video went viral.
