India's Supreme Court has asked former Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson - led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - Nupur Sharma, to appear on television and apologize to the entire Indian nation, after her offensive remarks to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, caused massive protests and fueled tension. in the country and obstructing the developed diplomatic relations with some Arab and Islamic countries.
The Supreme Court strongly criticized Sharma's comments, describing them as sassy, and said that they are solely responsible for the tensions in the country.
"She and her tongue have set the country on fire," the Supreme Court said on Friday during a procedural hearing on a number of criminal complaints against Sharma.
"This woman is solely responsible for what is happening in the country," she added. "She should apologize to the whole nation."
Anger swept India and the Muslim world last month after Sharma made insulting comments to the Holy Prophet during a televised debate, in which nearly 20 countries summoned their ambassadors for an explanation.
And organized rallies in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and many other Muslim countries, where thousands of demonstrators in those countries called for a boycott of Indian products.
A side of mass demonstrations outside the Indian embassy in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, last month (Reuters)
In India, at least two protesters - one of them a teenager - were killed by police fire, while a number of Muslim homes were bulldozed, in what critics called "collective punishment" by the authorities for organizing the protests.
This week, two Muslim men were arrested in the northwestern city of Udaipur for allegedly beheading a Hindu tailor who had posted in support of Sharma on Facebook.
Police in New Delhi this week also arrested journalist Muhammad Zubair, a vocal critic of the government who helped draw attention to Sharma's comments on his fact-checking website Alt News and on social media.
Zubair was arrested on Monday and remains in custody over a four-year-old tweet that included an image from a 1983 movie that showed a hotel named after a Hindu deity.
Huge protests erupted in the Indian city of Kolkata against Sharma's insulting statements to the Holy Prophet (Reuters)
Since her comments, a number of police complaints have been filed across India against the 37-year-old Sharma.
While her whereabouts are unknown, her lawyer was in the Supreme Court on Friday and demanded that the cases be consolidated in New Delhi, a request the court rejected.
Meanwhile, India's legal website Live Law reported on Twitter that a right-wing Hindu group had petitioned the Supreme Court asking for the court's oral notes to be withdrawn against Sharma.
A letter filed before the Chief Justice of India seeking direct the bench headed by Justice Surya Kant to withdraw the oral remarks made against #NupurSharma.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) July 1, 2022
In the face of popular and official anger in the Islamic world, the ruling party in India was forced to suspend Sharma's membership and issue a rare statement affirming his respect for all religions.
Since coming to power in 2014, the BJP, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been accused of discriminatory policies against Muslims, who make up nearly 14% of India's 1.350 billion population.