Protests denouncing the holy Prophet's shrine, peace be upon him, made by members of the ruling Hindu Nationalist Party escalated in a number of Indian cities. Students in a number of universities joined the demonstrations, while the police responded with more violence and abuse of the protesters.
Hundreds of students from Aligarh Islamic University in Uttar Pradesh (northern India) participated in a march on Sunday evening, chanting slogans condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.
The students expressed their solidarity with the activist Fatima Afrin, whose parents and sister were forcibly disappeared by the Indian police, and their house was demolished on Sunday morning.
Muslim Student leader @AyshaRenna sustained injuries during lathicharge in Kerala's Malappuram.
She was leading a protest against the demolition of Muslim houses in UP.
Renna tells @MaktoobMedia that she was humiliated by a police officer while she was in detention pic.twitter.com/hsi5HDnSyA
— shaheenabdulla (@shaheenjournal) June 12, 2022
They stressed that their demonstrations will continue until the authorities end the escalation against Fatima Afrin - who was the head of the Student Union at the university during 2021 - and the students also raised other demands to the government, foremost of which is to stop the arbitrary demolition of Muslim homes.
In the capital, New Delhi, the Indian police dealt with more violence against activists and students who gathered in front of a government headquarters to denounce violence against Muslims and the arbitrary demolition of their homes.
In the state of Kerala (south of the country), activists shared on social media videos of Indian policemen dragging and harassing Indian activist Aisha Rina during a demonstration that took place yesterday in the city of Malappuram in the state.
What an evil day when @CMOKerala takes it's instructions from Nagpur.
Not done Comrades.
Not done.
https://t.co/WMpO58BVL9
— Abhishek Dwivedi (@Rezang_La) June 12, 2022
Meanwhile, the mother of the young man, Muhammad Muddathir, demanded the trial and punishment of the policeman who shot her son during protests by thousands of Muslims in the city of Ranchi (eastern India) last Friday against statements insulting to the Holy Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.
A video clip of the young man, Mudassir, showed him chanting in one of the streets of his city, "Long live Islam" before his death. The mother of the young man, Muddathir, said in statements to Indian media that she is proud of her son, who died while defending the honor of Islam and Muslims, as she put it.
Earlier this month, two senior members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata People's Party (BJP) made statements offensive to the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
As the demonstrations continued, local sources reported that the police arrested at least 400 protesters, imposed a curfew, suspended Internet services in some places, and demolished the homes of a number of Muslims participating in the protests in Uttar Pradesh.