Supreme Court Imposes A Fine Of Rs. 50,000 On Waseem Rizvi, Dismisses His Petition

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Supreme Court imposes Rs. 50,000 fine on Waseem Rizvi.

India Tomorrow web desk

NEW DELHI—A bench of the Supreme headed by Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on former Shia Waqf Board Chairman Waseem Rizvi for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims.

Rizvi had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking removal of 26 verses of The Holy Quran.

While dismissing the writ petition, the bench observed, “Tthis is an absolutely frivolous writ petition” and also imposed Rs. 50000 as costs on the petitioner for filing the petition, Live Law reported.

After hearing started, Justice Nariman asked senior advocate Ravindra Kumar Raizada whether he is serious about the petition and wants to press for a hearing.

“Are you pressing the petition? Are you seriously pressing the petition?” Justice Nariman asked.

Raizada replied that he was confining the prayer to the regulation of Madrassa education.

“My submission is that these preachings advocate violence against non-believers. Children are kept at captivity at madrasas at a tender age.Students are not to be indoctrinated. These preachings cannot be in the market place of ideas. I have written to the Central Government for action, but nothing has happened…”, the advocate submitted.

After Raizada argued the case, the court after a brief hearing dismissed the petition with cost, calling it ‘absolutely frivolous.’

Rizvi’s Plea

On March 11, Rizvi filed a plea seeking to remove 26 verses from the Quran which, he stated, are used as “justifications” by Islamist terrorist groups for attacks on non-believers/civilians and were not part of the original holy book but added later. He alleged that certain verses in the Quran are a threat to the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of the country, seeking declaration from the court to hold those verses unconstitutional, non-effective and non-functional.

 “On account of the versus of Holy Quran, (more particularly described in the Writ Petition), the religion of Islam is drifting away from its basic tenets with a fast pace and nowadays is identified with violent behavior, militancy, fundamentalism, extremism and terrorism,” the plea noted.

Notably, Rizvi’s plea had sparked protests across the country in March, and several members of the Muslim community had accused him of hurting their sentiments.  The All India Shia Personal Law Board had said that Rizwi’s petition was an insult to Muslims of the entire world, and it has hurt them significantly.

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