Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman Zafarul Islam Faces Sedition Charges Over Facebook Post

New Delhi: The Cyber Cell of Delhi police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman Zafarul Islam Khan under IPC sections 120 4A sedition and 150 3A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language et cetera and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), on the basis of a complaint by a resident of the national capital.

The complaint was with regard to controversial comments made on the Facebook page of the MinoritiesCommission Chairman. In the complaint, The Delhi resident alleges that on April 28, Delhi Minorities Commission Chairman Zafarul Islam Khan made a social media post on Twitter and Facebook pointing out that the contents of the post as provocative, with an intent to cause disharmony and create rift in society.

Zafarul Islam had in his post made controversial remarks which attracted strong criticism. The Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission later said that he was patriot and that he had been misquoted. He posted an apology observing that his tweet was "ill-timed and insensitive in view of our country facing a medical emergency and fighting an unseen enemy.

I apologise to all whose sentiments were hurt", he added. Zafarul Islam Khan accused media organisations of distorting his views and observed that he had never intended to tarnish the image of India and that like any other Indian Muslim, he firmly believes in the Indian Constitution and rule of law. Zafarul Islam Khan alleged that his views had been distorted on a few electronic media forums and that statements which he had not made were attributed to him.