The Supreme Court on Monday on Monday dismissed a petition filed by former Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi seeking removal of 26 verses from the Quran, which he claims are used as “justifications” by Islamist terrorist groups for attacks on “non-believers”. Rizvi, in his petition, claimed that certain verses in the Quran are a threat to the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of the country. He has sought a declaration from the court to hold those verses unconstitutional, non-effective and non-functional.
Terming the petition "absolutely frivolous", the Supreme Court imposed a penalty of ₹50,000 on Rizvi.
The matter was heard by a bench of Justices RF Nariman, BR Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy. The bench had already cautioned Rizvi’s lawyer RK Raizada against pressing the plea but the warning was unheeded, resulting in the penalty.
“Do you seriously want to argue this petition? Are you going to press it?” the bench had asked Raizada, appearing for Rizvi, who chose to make submissions instead of simply withdrawing the petition.
Raizada submitted that the focus of the petition was the indoctrination of children in madrassas, which were unregulated and had been engaged in imparting “literal interpretation” of Quran.
Meanwhile, Rizvi’s plea has drawn huge backlash with several Muslim outfits and Islamic clerics protesting against the former chairman of the Waqf Board.
An FIR was registered in Bareilly by Anjuman Khuddam-e-Rasool secretary Shan Ahmed and an organisation known as Ittehad-e-Millat council against Rizvi last month for supposedly hurting religious sentiments of Muslims with his petition in the top court.
