Delhi Minorities Commission chairman Zafarul Islam Khan, who was on May 2 booked on charges of sedition after he allegedly made “provocative” social media posts, on Sunday said he did not delete his post and stands by it.
“It has been erroneously reported in a section of media that I have apologised for the tweet and deleted it. I apologised not for the tweet itself but because it was ill-timed and insensitive in the midst of a medical emergency faced by our country,” Mr. Khan said, adding that the post was still there on his Facebook and Twitter pages.
“I stand by my views and convictions. I will continue, now and in future, the fight against hate politics in the country. FIRs, arrest and imprisonments do not change this path which I have chosen continuously to save my country, people and the Indian secular polity and the Constitution,” he said.
A senior police officer said the FIR has been registered under Sections 124 A (Sedition) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony base on a complaint by a resident of South Delhi’s Vasant Kunj.
The complaint said Mr. Khan on April 28 had shared a post on Twitter and Facebook which was “provocative”.
Mr. Khan, in his post, had thanked Kuwait for taking note of the persecution of Indian Muslims, in the context of the violence in north-east Delhi.
