FIR against 3 for opposing singing of national anthem in madarsa

Three people, including a Muslim cleric, were booked for opposing the singing of national anthem at a madarsa during Independence Day celebrations in Maharajganj district on Wednesday, police said.

The incident took place at Madrasa Arabia Ahle Girls’ College when the madarsa staff and children gathered to hoist the national flag.

A video of the incident also went viral on social media in which a cleric Juned Ansari, who is not associated with the madarsa, is seen stopping children and staff from singing the national anthem.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP) Ashutosh Tripathi said a case had been registered against Juned and two other unidentified people. “Juned allegedly opposed the singing of national anthem in madarsa saying it was not permissible in Islam,” he said.

Police said the three were booked under sections 124-A (sedition) and 153B (imputation assertion prejudicial to national integrity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, Criminal Law (Amendment) Act and the Information Techology Act on the complaint of Sunil Tripathi, who teaches science under Madarsa Modernisation Scheme.

Tripathi also handed over the video clip showing Juned opposing singing of national anthem for being Muslim.

Juned was arrested on Wednesday while efforts are on to identify the other two accused, police said.

“Principal Fazal-ur-Rahman and one other staff member stood silent. They neither supported Juned nor opposed him. Juned was in favour of singing ‘Saare jahan se achcha instead of national anthem but Tripathi opposed him,” the ASP said.

District minority officer Prabhat Kumar, who was asked by Maharajganj district magistrate Amarnath Upadhyay to probe the matter, said: “Juned has been booked and arrested. Later, the students also sang the national anthem.”

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