The Indian Supreme Court has ordered Nupur Sharma, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader whose blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ignited a slew of protests and violent clashes, to apologise to the whole country.
According to reports by NDTV, Justice Surya Kant during the hearing said, “We saw the debate on how she was incited. But the way she said all this and later says she was a lawyer, it is shameful. She should apologize to the whole country.”
Nupur Sharma, who is BJP’s spokesperson, as well as another BJP leader Naveen Kumar Jindal, had appeared on a TV show where they had made blasphemous remarks that drew a lot of criticism and condemnations globally, but particularly from Muslim countries. The two were subsequently dismissed from the BJP.
In the wake of her statement, many cases were filed against her in various cities of India, and citing death threats and a fear for her security, Sharma moved the SC to transfer all the cases against her to Delhi.
While hearing her plea today (Friday), the SC said “She is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country.” The court blamed Sharma for igniting tensions across the country over her statement.
“Her outburst is responsible for the unfortunate incident at Udaipur,” the court added, referring to the gruesome murder of a tailor by two Muslim men in the city earlier this week.
The court maintained that Sharma’s statements had been made for ‘cheap publicity, a political agenda or some nefarious activities’, adding that she had ‘threatened the security of the nation’.
