Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: A day after the controversial ‘hate speech’ video of Mohammad Mustafa, former DGP and principal advisor to Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu went viral, Punjab Police on Sunday registered a case against Mustafa.
Former Punjab DGP Mohammad Mustafa, who was appointed as Principal Adviser of Sidhu, is the husband of state cabinet minister and Congress Candidate from Malerkotla (the only Muslim-dominated seat in the state), Razia Sultana.
Malerkotla police slapped against Mustafa charges of promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and Representation of People Act 1950,1951, and 1989. The police version is that a patrol team got information about Mustafa’s inflammatory speech video.
Sources said that some four days back during the election meeting Mustafa had allegedly threatened AAP workers with dire consequences and that video went viral. The AAP Malerkotla candidate Jamil Ur Rahman had lodged a complaint. He said that Mustafa has a habit of playing communal card and the returning officer of Malerkotla Jasbir Singh had issued a notice to Mustafa.
Senior Superintendent of Police of Malerkotla, Ravjot Kaur Grewal said, “After police got information about the viral video, we registered a case against Mohammad Mustafa and also demanded a reply from him.’’
Mohammad Mustafa claimedthe case registered against him is baseless and without proper verification of facts. He said his political opponents were trying to make an issue out of nothing and added that he never spoke ill of any community. He said that he had only warned AAP workers, who chased him.
Moreover, he took to Twitter to explain his version. Mustafa tweeted, “There was absolutely no Hindu-Muslim context to what happened in Malerkotla to which the quoted video clip relates. It was a verbal outburst unilaterally mischievously provoked by Jhaduwalas, all Muslims.’’
In another tweet, he hit out at BJP, saying his “nationalist” credentials were superior to those from the saffron party. “Your intended branding will not work on Mustafa, as my nationalistic credentials are far superior to yours with a history of life-long struggle against enemies of India and destroyers of communal harmony in the state,” he wrote.
AAP Malerkotla candidate Jamil Ur Rahman alleged that Mustafa threatened his supporters and announced that he would not allow them to organize any meeting.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said that he had heard him and Mustafa deserved to be arrested as he has been ruining the peaceful atmosphere of Punjab.
The purported video clip was played by the BJP in which Mustafa is heard saying at a public meeting at Malerkotla on January 20, “I swear by Allah that I will not allow them to hold any event. I am a ‘kaumi fauji (soldier of the community). I am not an RSS agent who will hide in the house out of fear. If they again try to do such a thing, I swear by Allah I will thrash them in their homes.”
The BJP had yesterday accused Mustafa of allegedly making inflammatory remarks against a community at a public meeting in Malerkotla and demanded that a case be registered against him as the saffron party had given a complaint to the EC in this regard.