New Delhi: Two minor Muslim boys have been booked in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly for allegedly listening to a Pakistani song on a mobile phone, police said on Thursday, April 14.
A first information report (FIR) has been lodged against Naeem and Mustkim of Singhai Murawan village of the Bhuta area of the district on April 13, police said. The cousins, 16 and 17, run a grocery store in Singhai Murawan, the Times of India reported.
The FIR against the teenagers was lodged on the complaint of a local resident, Ashish, who objected to their playing the song which praised the neighbouring country.
When Ashish objected to the duo playing the song, the teenagers picked up a fight with him, prompting the complainant to shoot the video of the incident and upload it on his Twitter handle, PTI reported.
According to the newspaper, the FIR also said that when the complainant asked the two to stop listening to the song, they allegedly started hurling abuses and said “bad things” about India.
Their cousin, who requested not to be named, told TOI, “They played the song without realising the consequences.”
The family told the daily that the two were picked up at 5 pm on Wednesday, April 13 and were detained by police the whole night at the station.
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According to a video shot by a local reporter, which was accessed by The Wire, the duo’s cousin, Saddam Hussain, said that his younger brother played the song for just 40 seconds, and that too by mistake. He also apologised later, but his apology was not accepted, he added.
The younger boy’s aunt, Sahana, said that the incident took place when she had left the grocery store for a few minutes. She was shocked and distressed to see that both the children were detained for listening to a song which was played by mistake. She said the boys are not educated and admitted the mistake on their behalf.
The duo was listening to Pakistani child artist and actress Aayat Arif’s ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ song.
Bareilly’s additional superintendent of police (rural), Rajkumar Agarwal, said an FIR has been registered on the complaint and a probe is on in the matter.
However, senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Bareilly, Rohit Singh Sajwan, told TOI, “I do not know whether the youths were detained by the police overnight as I was told that they were being called for questioning this morning. There is a provision for serving notices in such cases as the authenticity of a video recorded is not verified. I will ask a senior cop to monitor the investigation and provide a report.”
The teenagers have been slapped with sections 153B (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
(With inputs from PTI)
