The Coimbatore rural cyber crime police on Tuesday, June 14, arrested an ABVP activist for posting a message on social media in support of former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, whose controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad triggered an international row. The man who has been arrested has been identified as 24-year-old Karthi, who was arrested from Sennanur on the outskirts of Coimbatore. His now-deleted social media post had reproduced the video in which Nupur had made the controversial remark, with the caption “I’ll repeat this every day…Nupur Sharma only repeated what’s written… what wrong did she say?”
The police said Karthi’s tweet could foment enmity between communities and hence he has been booked under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code as well as Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. The police said the contentious post has also been removed from his social media.
The Coimbatore rural cyber crime police registered an FIR against Karthi on Tuesday and arrested him. He was produced before a judicial magistrate and later he was remanded to judicial custody. Many right-wing outfits have questioned the Tamil Nadu government for arresting Karthi.
Nupur Sharma was sacked by the BJP as the spokesperson after her comments on a television news debate sparked a major row. Sharma had made objectionable remarks against the Prophet during a 'prime time' news show aired by Times Now hosted by Navika Kumar, the editor-in-chief of Times Now Navbharat and Group Editor, Times Network. Another BJP office-bearer, Naveen Kumar Jindal, was sacked by the BJP for his tweets against Prophet Mohammed, which also created a big controversy.
Several FIRs were registered against Sharma in Maharashtra and other states, as well as a case against Navika, in the wake of her remarks against the Prophet — which led to massive outrage in India and also in Gulf countries.
Protests erupted in several parts of the country, including outside Delhi's Jama Masjid, on June 10 against the controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad by now-sacked BJP functionaries Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal.