Mumbai: After days of turbulence, popular Muslim preacher and tele-evangelist Dr. Zakir Naik can breathe a sigh of relief as he has been handed a clean chit by the Maharashtra State Intelligence Department (SID), who said that there isn't enough evidence for Naik's arrest.
As part of his preliminary probe, the SID has studied hundreds of YouTube videos and speeches given by the controversial preacher in and out of India. A dossier of evidence has also been received and collected from the other intelligence teams in various states, including Hyderabad, where an ISIS module was reportedly inspired by Naik’s speeches, said a senior official, according to The Hindu.
“There is no case to be made out against the English-speaking preacher, except maybe the possible charge of hurting religious sentiments, but even that cannot be established from his speeches.
"We are tracking his movements and only if he speaks out of turn, can we ‘pin’ him down on a charge.
"For now, we are closely monitoring him,” said a senior police official, who on Monday conveyed the preliminary assessment of the SID findings to the ‘higher-ups’.
Supporters of the influential Salafist Islam preacher from Mumbai have already claimed there is no offence to be made out against Naik. His lawyers claim there is no offence to be made out, not even that of a ‘hate speech’, let alone of fanning terror-related sentiment.
“If he has talked about Osama bin Laden in one of the speeches that in itself does not constitute a charge or offence against him. If one bomber (in Bangladesh) says he was inspired by Naik’s speeches, how can he be held accountable?” said Naik’s lawyer Mubin Solkar of Solkar & Associates.
Meanwhile, experts said, Making "hate speeches'' to promote enmity between different groups on grounds including religion, race, residence, etc is an offence too. But for that offence to be proved, courts have ruled that the written or spoken word must be deliberate with a malicious intention of hurting or insulting groups and such intention must be judged from the article as a whole.
They said condemning or trolling televangelist Zakir for allegedly spreading hatred through religious preaching might come easy, but law enforcing authorities would face difficulty in proving in a court of law. Over the years, the Supreme Court has consistently and meticulously differentiated between public perception and facts. It has insisted on hard facts to substantiate charges of causing communal disharmony under IPC Sections 153A and 295A of IPC, according to a report by The Times of India.
As demands to prosecute Naik, whose speeches inspired two Dhaka killers, rise in pitch, former attorney general Soli Sorabjee struck a sobering tone: "What is necessary is a fair probe and after that expeditious application of law, not before.''
Practising and propagating one's religion is a fundamental right in India subject to restrictions in law like public order, morality and health.
"It is no offence to promote one's own religion as being superior over another, but if it is intended to or results in disaffection between two religious group, it would not have the protection of the fundamental right,'' explained former Maharashtra advocate general S G Aney.
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