MORADABAD:
The police in Moradabad has registered an FIR against former Uttar Pradesh Governor Aziz Qureshi for allegedly delivering a provocative speech to anti-CAA protesters at the Eidgah Maidan here on February 22.
A similar FIR was lodged against Qureshi in Lucknow for taking part in another anti-CAA march and stir on February 2. SP (city), Moradabad, Amit Anand, said: “We have registered a case at Galshaheed police station (on Wednesday) under section 143, 145 (unlawful assembly) and 188 (violation of prohibitory orders) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Qureshi for participating in the protest and making an inflammatory speech.”
In his Idgah speech, Qureshi, who is also the former Governor on Mizoram and Uttarakhand, lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah and termed the citizenship law as unconstitutional, saying they had no right to discriminate on the basis of one”s religion.
“The BJP government is trying to create a religious divide and both, Modi and Shah, have perhaps not read the history and the sacrifices and contributions that Muslims have made in the war of Independence since 1857,” he had said.
The anti-CAA demonstration at the Idgah premises has been going on since January 29. On February 15, the Moradabad administration served a recovery notice of Rs 1.04 crore to poet and Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi for attending the demonstration and instigating the protestors.
The administration notice said that the penalty was calculated on the basis of the Rs 13.42 lakh being spent daily on the deployment of police and paramilitary forces at the Eidgah protest site.
