Srinagar: PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday demanded legal action against those responsible for installing the controversial inauguration plaque bearing the State Emblem inside the Hazratbal shrine, invoking Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code that deals with deliberate acts intended to outrage religious sentiments.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, the former chief minister said the move had deeply hurt the religious feelings of Muslims and those responsible should be booked under the law. “Instead of taking action against those who defaced the emblem out of religious sentiment, the government should lodge an FIR against the Waqf Board chairperson and members who allowed such an act. Hazratbal is a religious place, not a venue for coronation or political symbolism,” Mehbooba said.
She castigated Waqf Board Chairperson Darakhshan Andrabi for demanding PSA against those who vandalised the plaque. “Calling the Home Minister of India to slap PSA on locals is unacceptable. The real question is who permitted installation of the emblem in a shrine where there is no concept of idol worship,” she added.
Mehbooba maintained that successive governments had worked for the development of Hazratbal but had refrained from what she described as “unislamic practices.”
“This was not a BJP function. Unfortunately, the sanctity of Hazratbal was compromised in this manner,” she remarked. [KNT]
