Twitterati rally for Hindu girl asked to distribute Qurans, raise over Rs 2 lakh for her legal fees in two hours
Expressing shock that she had been arrested for a Facebook post, she told Zee News: “When I posted on Facebook, I didn't think it would become such a big deal. I had posted something and I never realised that Muslims from my own mohalla would get me sent to jail.”
A 19-year-old woman, who was recently arrested for sharing an offensive social media post targeting Muslims, has been granted bail by a local court here on the condition that she donate five copies of Quran to separate institutions in the city.
The court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Manish Kumar Singh, after granting the conditional bail on Monday, asked Richa Bharti to submit one copy of the holy book to the local Anjuman Committee in the presence of police authorities, and four more copies to different libraries in the city, her advocate Rampravesh Singh told PTI.
Expressing shock that she had been arrested for a Facebook post, she told Zee News: “When I posted on Facebook, I didn't think it would become such a big deal. I had posted something and I never realised that Muslims from my own mohalla would get me sent to jail.”
Expressing her dissent, she said: “I will not distribute Qurans. Tomorrow they will say, accept Islam. Has a Muslim ever been asked to Ramayana paath or Mahabharata paath? Are Muslims ever asked to read Hanuman Chalisa?
Meanwhile, Twitterati rallied around Richa Bharti and raised money for her on Ketto. At the time of writing, Twitterati had already raises Rs 2.6 lakh of their targeted Rs 6lakh for her legal needs.
Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said he had requested his friend and minister in Saryu Rai to look into the matter.
JNU Professor and author Anand Ranganathan called it shocking and wondered how the media would’ve reacted if a ‘Muslim had been ordered to distribute the Gita as a condition for bail’
Read: Twitterati hail Ranchi's Rosa Parks
BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Singh Bagga asked if anyone had a contact number and offered to help her file a petition in the Supreme Court.
Incidentally, a BJP youth leader from Bengal, Priyanka Sharma had been arrested for sharing a meme on Mamata Banerjee and had moved SC after being arrested.
Advocate Ishkaran Singh Bhandari called her a courageous girl and said adverse situations led to courage, comparing her to African-American activist Rosa Parks who refused to relinquish her seat to a white passenger in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama and is known as the ‘first lady of civil rights’.
Md Jamil Khan, a member of the Anjuman Committee, said it has welcomed the court verdict.
"The committee, which looks after the health, education and welfare of the local people, has accepted the verdict whole-heartedly. The woman has been asked to donate copies of the Quran to the committee as well as school and college libraries," he said.
Superintendent of Police (rural) Asutosh Sekhar, when contacted, said the officers were studying the court order to understand the stipulations.
Bharti, a B.Com student at a local college, was arrested on July 12 after the Anjuman Committee filed a complaint against her at Pithora Police Station for sharing an objectionable post on Facebook, which reportedly hurt religious sentiments.
"We moved a petition in the court praying for bail. Yesterday, we got conditional bail with the ruling that she should donate one copy of the Quran Sharif to Anjuman Committee at Pithoria and four more to different libraries in the city," the girl's counsel said.
The judge has also directed the investigating officer in the case to be present when Bharti donates the holy book to the committee, he added.
Bharti's parents, Prakash and Nilam Devi, said they were happy to have their daughter back.