Report cites UK’s ban on Zakir Naik

States UK govt order has set a precedent in banning certain types of speeches.

Mumbai police has cited a reported ban in the United Kingdom (UK) on the speeches of Islamic preacher and televangelist Zakir Naik, while seeking restrictions upon his speeches in the state for allegedly being against religious harmony.

The report claimed that the UK authorities placed the restriction on grounds of the “protection of their social and national security,” said a government source. The report was submitted to the Maharashtra home department on Monday for chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s vetting and subsequent action, if any. The source said that the aforementioned UK government order set a precedent of a democracy banning certain types of speeches.

The source said that the report referred to the ministry of home affairs’ probe since July into the aspect of alleged foreign-funding of Naik-linked NGO, Islamic Research Foundation (IRF). Based on specific complaints, the city police has undertaken a similar inquiry against the IRF.

According to the police report, the Mumbai crime branch took over the Nagpada police’s probe into a first information report registered against IRF’s guest-relations manager, Arshi Qureshi, for his alleged conversion of a Kerala youth and nudging him into joining trans-national terror outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The Nagpada police had registered the case on a complaint from Abdul Majid, whose son Ashfaq allegedly is one of the Kerala youths who went missing and are suspected to have joined the ISIS.

The report stated that Qureshi’s alleged role in converting Kerala youths and inspiring them to join ISIS was also being probed by the Kerala police. The city police gave its report to the state government after conducting an examination of Naik’s speeches available online to ascertain if any of them could have inspired youth to join terror outfits, amid claims that at least one attacker who targeted Dhaka’s Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1 was allegedly inspired by his utterances.

Naik, who is currently abroad, had rejected all allegations against him, including those related to his inspiring any of the Dhaka attackers, during an online interaction with Indian media last month. He said that his remarks were “blown out of context” and that he had never inspired any terror activity. The report accused Naik of seeking to portray that a particular religion was “supreme” and spreading religious intolerance. The Kurla police and the Sindhudurg police have, in the past, probed complaints against Naik.