Darbhanga: The final stretch to Mohammed Rizvi Qureshi’s house at Bhapura village in Bihar’s Darbhanga district fades into a dotted line on Google Maps, leaving visitors to rely on local guidance rather than GPS.
Until 27 August, that might have posed a challenge. Not many locals would have known the 20-year-old, who works with his three brothers at their father Mohammed Anis Qureshi’s puncture repair shop in the local market.
These days, however, people can guide visitors to Rizvi’s house from kilometres away.
Just minutes after midnight on 28 August, a large contingent of police arrived and arrested Rizvi from his home for allegedly using expletives against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) political gathering earlier that day.
The event was organised by a local Congress functionary, Naushad Alam, to welcome Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s Voter Adhikar Yatra which passed through the area.
However, neither Rahul nor Tejashwi was present at the site when the incident took place. A short video clip where a man could be seen using expletives before the microphone is quickly taken away from him went viral and was picked up by news channels, drawing condemnation from both the ruling Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party, or JD(U)-BJP, alliance as well as the Opposition.
In election-bound Bihar, the case has snowballed into a major political controversy, with PM Narendra Modi expressing his pain over the remarks, which, he said, would not be forgiven by the people of Bihar. Two days after the incident, workers of the BJP had stormed the Congress office in Patna.
Later, police identified the accused as Rizvi. Among the various charges invoked against Rizvi, who is in judicial custody, is Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which criminalises acts that excite secession, rebellion, or threaten India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity.
At Bhapura, which falls under the Jale Assembly constituency held by the BJP, Rizvi’s family remains distraught. His younger brother, Mohammed Sahwan Qureshi, said their mother, a heart patient, had to be hospitalised as she could not bear the shock of her son’s arrest.
“We earnestly appeal to PM Modi to forgive our child. He should not have used those words. We apologise on his behalf. But he is not a criminal, nor is he with any political party,” Rizvi’s aunt Naseema Khatoon told ThePrint.
An FIR was lodged against Rizvi at the Simri police station based on a complaint filed by BJP Darbhanga district president, Aditya Narayan Choudhary.
The family said Rizvi did not complete matriculation. In fact, none of the four brothers finished school, a situation they attributed to the family’s poor financial condition.
“What he did was wrong, but we appeal to the PM, who is the entire country’s guardian, that he should not be treated like some dreaded criminal. People who have committed much bigger crimes are roaming free,” said Tahir Qureshi, the uncle of the accused.
Rizvi’s cousin Arzoo Qureshi said the family has no political affiliations whatsoever. “Rizvi’s father runs a puncture repair shop. I work as a driver in Patna. Another cousin runs a tea stall. Look at the condition of our house. Do we have time for politics? He (Rizvi) has not even voted so far,” he said.
The family members believe that the police action against Rizvi was disproportionate, especially when compared to more serious crimes.
“You must have seen how women were treated in Manipur. And just look at the kind of language our Chief Minister Nitish Kumar uses in public forums. What our son did was immature, we acknowledge that. But we are not criminals. We, as Muslims, have also made sacrifices for this nation. This country is as much ours as it is anyone else’s. All we can do now is appeal to the Prime Minister to forgive him,” Arzoo told ThePrint.
A faded tricolour flutters atop the single-storey structure with a tin roof. Large tyres meant for repair work line one side of the dusty outer courtyard of the house, its walls unplastered. The village, which is evidently backward compared to other settlements in the area, has a mixed population of Hindu and Muslim clusters.
Police officers in Simri, where the FIR was filed, and neighbouring Singhwara, where the arrest took place, told ThePrint that Rizvi has no prior criminal record.
Amanullah Qureshi, another cousin who runs a tea stall, said Rizvi is an introvert, mostly engaged in work. Apart from helping his father at the puncture repair shop, he also operates a pickup van for extra income.
Incidentally, addressing a gathering in Haryana earlier this year, Modi made a case for the legislation to amend the Waqf Act, saying had land Waqf land been honestly utilised over the decades, then Muslim youth would not have spent their lives “repairing punctured cycle tyres”.
“That day, his father was going to Darbhanga city when he spotted Rizvi at the event. Many local young men had gone there to see Tejashwi, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. Rizvi’s father admonished him and asked him to return to the shop. Which father would teach his child to do such a thing and bring trouble upon the entire family? He made a mistake, and now the whole family is suffering,” said Tahir.
Since Rizvi’s arrest, no one from the Opposition has reached out to the family offering any form of help, he added. In fact, both the Congress and the RJD had promptly condemned the incident, saying they do not endorse such behaviour in the name of political differences.
The ruling JD(U)-BJP alliance had called a Bihar bandh from 7 am to 12 pm on 4 September to protest against the incident.
Apart from Section 152, the FIR includes charges under Sections 196 (promotion of disharmony, enmity, hatred or ill-will between different groups based on religion or race), 296 (uttering obscene words in public causing annoyance to others), 353(2) (making false statements with the intent to promote hatred), 356(1) (criminal defamation), 356(2) (cyber defamation) of the BNS, as well as Sections 3(5) and 67 of the IT Act (transmission of obscene material in electronic form).
Asked about the applicability of Section 152 of the BNS, Darbhanga Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jagunath Raddi said the matter was under investigation and, since sections are often added or dropped during the course of a probe, he could not comment on any specific charge.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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