‘Are you Serious’? SC Slams MP Govt Seeking Arrest of law Prof Over ‘Hinduphobia’

The Supreme Court (SC), which had stayed the arrest of Indore law college professor Inamur Rahman in a case of allegedly “promoting Hinduphobia”, was surprised at the Madhya Pradesh government on Monday for intending to challenge the anticipatory bail granted to him.

The Indore Police had lodged an FIR against Rehman over a book titled Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System found in the library of Government New Law College for allegedly “encouraging religious fundamentalism”. Rehman was the principal of the college while the book was written by Farhat Khan.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had protested on the campus alleging that the book “contained objectionable remarks against Hindus, the RSS, the Centre and the Army. Following the protest, Rehman resigned.

The SC, which was hearing Rehman’s petition after staying his arrest on December 16, 2022, asked the state government: “State must do some more serious stuff. He is a college principal. Why are you arresting him?”

The petitioner’s counsel Aljo K Joseph informed a Bench led Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud that Rehman was granted anticipatory bail by the Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) on December 22, 2022, LiveLaw reported.

As the Bench was proceeding to dispose of the petition, the state’s counsel requested it to record that the Madhya Pradesh government intends to challenge the anticipatory bail order.

A surprised CJI Chandrachud asked the state counsel: “A book is found in the library which is said to have some communal undertones. Therefore, you are seeking to arrest him? The book was purchased in 2014. And you are seeking to arrest him? Are you serious?”

When the state’s counsel submitted that students have complained that Rehman has been teaching from the book, contradicting his defence that he never knew about its existence, the CJI said: “If you want to challenge the order, you do it. We will deal with it.”

In the FIR, lodged by an LLM student, the petitioner was arrayed as ‘Accused 2’. The complainant contended that the book was based upon “false and baseless facts, was anti-national in nature, and intended to harm the public peace, integrity and religious cordiality of India”.

Rehman, however, had submitted that the book was published and purchased by the college in 2014 when he was a professor, not the principal, of the college. The petitioner further contended that the case was lodged for “political reasons” and he was unnecessarily dragged into it despite not being involved in the book’s publication or marketing.

Rehman had alleged in December that he and four Muslim professors were being targeted because of “religious identity”. “I took charge as the principal in August 2019 while the book was purchased in 2014 by the then-principal Sudha Silawat, who is the kin of a sitting minister in the ruling government, on the recommendation of three faculty members—JK Jain, professor Praveen Kumar Choudhary and professor NK Pagariya,” he had told Newsclick.

Showing a receipt of the book mentioning the purchase date, he said, “I have nothing to do with its placement in the library. The FIR against me is unfortunate. I have been booked but not the library head who is responsible.”

“Only four out of 28 faculty members are Muslims. Even though I initiated an inquiry and barred all the named professors from college till the investigation was complete, the ABVP members raised objectionable and hurtful slogans against me demanding resignation,” Rahman had said while breaking down over the phone.

Hitesh Khetrapal, the book’s Indore-based publisher, had told Newsclick, “We published that book in 2014. But in 2021, I received a call from an advocate who was speaking on the RSS’s behalf and raised objections on some parts of the book. We conveyed this message to the author and retrieved all the books sold to the institutions and sent them new editions after omitting the objectionable part in 2021.”

Khan also “gave a written apology after the objection and the dust died down”, added Khetrapal, who also shared a copy of the apology letter written by Khan in March 2021.