At least two persons died of a bullet injury in Jharkhand’s Ranchi, where the police fired in the air to disperse a crowd pelting stones, as protests erupted in several towns and cities across the country on Friday against derogatory references to the Prophet made by former BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal.
The protests also turned violent in UP’s Prayagraj and West Bengal’s Howrah. The protests in Delhi and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Bihar and Maharashtra were peaceful even as a shutdown was observed in Srinagar.
India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sanctioned two party spokespersons following an international outcry over insulting comments the pair are reported to have made regarding Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), according to party documents and local media.
BJP national spokeswoman Nupur Sharma was suspended from the party’s primary membership for comments made in a recent television debate, while the BJP’s Delhi media operation head Naveen Kumar Jindal was expelled, the Hindustan Times reported on Sunday.
In a statement on Sunday, the BJP said it respects all religions and “strongly denounces insult of any religious personalities of any religion”.
RHM/PR
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