Quran pages found torn in Sangrur village, one held

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, August 16

The police today claimed to have solved a Quran desecration case with the arrest of Israr Mohammad, brother-in-law of Mohammad Mustafa, the moulvi of the mosque at Mehlan village, near here.

The moulvi’s daughter yesterday spotted torn pages of the holy book in a bathroom on the premises of the mosque. The book was found on the roof of the mosque, following which the moulvi informed the police.

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Patiala Zone, Paramraj Singh Umranangal, said a four-member special investigation team (SIT), on a tip-off, arrested Israr Mohammad of Paharpur village in Saharanpur district (UP) from a dhaba near Mehlan Chowk.

During the interrogation, Israr confessed that he had committed the crime at 3 pm on August 14 when no family member of the moulvi was present in the mosque. The IGP said Israr was earlier staying with the moulvi’s family, but was thrown out when he started taking drugs. He told the police that he desecrated the Quran to avenge his humiliation at the hands of his sister and her husband.

He has been booked under Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the IPC at Chhajli police station.

This is the second case of Quran desecration in less than two months in Sangrur district. On June 24, an incident of sacrilege occurred in Malerkotla. Among the accused persons, Vijay Kumar, Nand Kishore Goldy and Gaurav are in jail, while Aam Aadmi Party MLA Naresh Yadav is out on bail.