Indian police file case against BJP spokeswoman over blasphemous remarks

NEW DELHI, June 9: An official of India’s ruling party has been named by police in a case for inciting people after her insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) spurred a string of condemnations from the oil-rich Gulf states and other Muslim-majority nations.
Nurpur Sharma, spokeswoman for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been named in one of two cases registered for “inciting people on the basis of various divisive lines,” the Delhi police said on Thursday.
Indian journalist and author Saba Naqvi was also booked in the case after an alleged anti-Hindu tweet.
On Sunday, BJP suspended the membership of Sharma, and another worker Naveen Kumar Jindal was expelled from the party over comments he made about Islam on social media.
Sharma had made insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in a television debate, triggering a wave of condemnations within India and from the Islamic world.
More than a dozen countries — as well as international organisations — condemned the controversial remarks.
Calls have grown for a boycott of Indian products in Gulf countries, while the BJP has suspended Sharma and asked its spokespeople to speak more responsibly in public.
The latest development comes as Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is on a three-day visit to New Delhi.
Abdollahian met Ajit Kumar Doval, India’s national security adviser on Wednesday.-DNA