The Mumbai Police on Thursday night served a copy of the Central government’s gazette order declaring the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) as unlawful. The notification was given to the IRF office in Dongri.
The Central government had on Wednesday declared IRF an unlawful organisation based on reports of inquiries conducted by the State and Central governments. “IRF has been declared as unlawful with immediate effect, and a copy of the government’s notification has been served to IRF office-bearers,” DCP Ashok Dudhe, spokesperson, Mumbai Police, said.
Senior police officers said they are yet to receive instructions from the Central government on action to be taken against IRF, like sealing its properties or freezing its bank accounts. “We have kept teams on standby for now around Nagpada in case the government’s action leads to any law and order issues, but no such problems have been reported so far,” a senior police officer said.
The notification cites five police complaints registered against either the IRF or its members in different police stations in the country, and goes on to state: “The Central Government has received information that the statements and speeches made by Dr Zakir Naik, the president of IRF, are objectionable and subversive in nature as he has been extolling the known terrorists like Osama bin Laden, proclaiming that every Muslim should be a terrorist, eighty per cent of Indian population would not have remained Hindus as they could have been converted ‘if we wanted’ by sword, justifying suicide bombings, posting objectionable comments against Hindu Gods, claiming that the Golden Temple may not be as sacred as Mecca and Medina and making other statements which are derogatory to other religions.”
The IRF will soon be appearing before a Tribunal constituted by the Central government to hear appeals in cases where the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) has been applied, and will be arguing that the UAPA is not applicable in this case.
In a statement released on Friday, IRF spokesperson Arif Mallik said, “We’re studying the contents of the notification and the reasons cited for the ban and we will take the recourse to all remedies available in law to get the ban revoked.”
