SC rejects plea to scrap Quran verses

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition by former UP Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Syed Wasim Rizvi for seeking the deletion of 26 verses from the Holy Quran on the ground that these allegedly preach violence. While dismissing Mr Rizvi’s plea, the court fined him `50,000, describing his plea as frivolous.

“This is an absolutely frivolous writ petition,” said Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman heading a bench also comprising Justices B.R. Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Nariman asked the lawyer appearing for Rizvi “Are you pressing for the petition? Are you serious about it.” Justice Nariman asked.

Senior advocate Ravindra Kumar Raizada, appearing for

Mr Rizvi, said he was confining the prayer to the regulation of madrasa education. He pleaded that children should not be “indoctrinated” at madrasas with certain verses of the Quran that preach violence against the nonbelievers and hence these should be removed. In his petition Mr Rizvi had sought removal of 26 Quranic verses, claiming that they are used as a “justification” by the Islamic terrorist groups for targeting the non-believer civilians and these were not part of the original holy book but they were inserted later.

“On account of the versus of Holy Quran, (more particularly described in the writ petition), the religion of Islam is drifting away from its basic tenets with a fast pace and nowadays is identified with violent behaviour, militancy, fundamentalism and terrorism,” the plea noted.