11-27-2006, 05:23 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>2 fined for outraging Hindu sentiment </b>
Pioneer.com
Staff Reporter | New Delhi
<b>A city court on Saturday imposed a fine of Rs 14,500 each on two men, charged with publishing a communally-inflammatory article on disputed Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue nine years ago in a news weekly.</b>
Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Kumar Gautam convicted Khalid Sabir (58) and Mohammed Ateeq Siddiqui (62) for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race, making assertions prejudicial to national integration and outraging the religious feelings of a class of people.
<b>"On reading of the whole article, it can be held that the same can promote enmity between the Hindu and Muslim communities and can disturb public tranquility and is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony," the court said. "The perusal of the article in question shows that the same has been written to outrage feelings and beliefs of the Hindus who belong to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad," the court held.</b>
However, considering the facts that they were of old age, first-time offenders and have published a regret note before the registration of an FIR, the court did not sentence them to any prison term.
According to a complaint filed by VHP activist Pawan Arora, the convicts published an article on July 26, 1997 titled as 'Construction of an illegal Ram Mandir in Ayodhya - where Babri Mosque fell - goes on' in a weekly journal News From India.
Khalid Sabir is a resident of Allahabad while Mohd Ateeq Siddiqui is from Delhi
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Staff Reporter | New Delhi
<b>A city court on Saturday imposed a fine of Rs 14,500 each on two men, charged with publishing a communally-inflammatory article on disputed Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue nine years ago in a news weekly.</b>
Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Kumar Gautam convicted Khalid Sabir (58) and Mohammed Ateeq Siddiqui (62) for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race, making assertions prejudicial to national integration and outraging the religious feelings of a class of people.
<b>"On reading of the whole article, it can be held that the same can promote enmity between the Hindu and Muslim communities and can disturb public tranquility and is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony," the court said. "The perusal of the article in question shows that the same has been written to outrage feelings and beliefs of the Hindus who belong to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad," the court held.</b>
However, considering the facts that they were of old age, first-time offenders and have published a regret note before the registration of an FIR, the court did not sentence them to any prison term.
According to a complaint filed by VHP activist Pawan Arora, the convicts published an article on July 26, 1997 titled as 'Construction of an illegal Ram Mandir in Ayodhya - where Babri Mosque fell - goes on' in a weekly journal News From India.
Khalid Sabir is a resident of Allahabad while Mohd Ateeq Siddiqui is from Delhi
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->