Islamists and ‘liberals’ claimed on social media that Newslaundry columnist Sharjeel Usmani, who had hailed Delhi riots shooter Shahrukh as ‘Mujahid’, has been ‘picked up’ by UP Police. They claimed that the cops came in plain clothes and took him away, thereby insinuating that the police have ‘abducted’ him.
https://twitter.com/abulaalasubhani/status/1280871879255810050?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwAbul Aala Subhani claimed that five unknown persons who identified themselves as Azamgarh unit of UP Crime Branch ‘detained’ Usmani. The usual suspects came together to spread this without actually verification of the information that Usmani was detained arbitrarily.
https://twitter.com/SaketGokhale/status/1280882682407170048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/AdityaMenon22/status/1280901489653714945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/atti_cus/status/1280890273145421824?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwHere again it is important to note that there is no confirmation whether it was indeed ‘police’ that had ‘picked him up’.
Barkha Dutt’s ‘shero’ Aysha Renna too used to woke ‘pass it on’ format for claiming that the state is hounding young Muslim leaders.
https://twitter.com/AyshaRenna/status/1280885819843067905?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwHer buddy even went a step further and claimed that Usmani was arrested.
https://twitter.com/ladeedafarzana/status/1280874630287208449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw “Abduction” someone cried. https://twitter.com/mynameswatik/status/1280929013603549184?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwDo note that there is no confirmation on this yet. When OpIndia contacted Azamgarh Police station, the cops maintained that do not know about any such ‘detainment’. Interestingly, Amar Ujala claims that they got in touch with Aligarh SP Crime Branch Arvind Kumar who confirmed the ‘arrest’. All the social media reports claimed it was Azamgarh unit of Crime Branch which ‘detained’ Usmani. Azamgarh and Aligarh are situated over 700 kms apart. Further, the featured image of Amar Ujala report has Sharjeel Imam, The Wire columnist who was arrested over his seditious speech.
Two different Sharjeels. This casts a shadow of doubt over the accuracy of the report.
However, to suit the agenda, The Wire too published a report claiming Sharjeel Usmani was arrested over December 2019 anti-CAA protests. The Wire also cites Amar Ujala report. Hence, either The Wire did not get in touch with the police itself or The Wire chose not to mention that police was unable to give details because Amar Ujala report fit their agenda.
Rumours have also emerged that fearing crackdown over his involvement in the 2019 violent anti-CAA protests, he may have gone ‘underground’ to a ‘safe place’. While the truth will come out eventually, the rumour mills have already overworked themselves to show that the state is cracking down on ‘Muslims’.
Who is Sharjeel Usmani
In June this year, this columnist with Newslaundry glorified Islamist Shahrukh Pathan, accused of opening fire on Delhi police during the February 2020 anti-Hindu riots. Usmani lavished praises on the accused rioters, saying that he is proud of Shahrukh, who ‘fought for his community’ (Muslims) when the entire state machinery and ‘Hindutva army’ was apparently ‘killing and looting’ them. Prior to that, he had announced his intentions of using Muslims as the fifth columns in the country to undermine Indian interests.
After the incendiary speeches of Sharjeel Imam had gone viral on social media, Sharjeel Usmani had rushed in to defend him. He had urged Muslims to not disassociate themselves from the JNU scholar and declared that he was ‘in this together’ with the radical Ismamist.
Sharjeel Usmani had been booked earlier by the Police earlier for an objectionable post on Lal Krishna Advani. The post allegedly had a photograph of the veteran BJP leader with the caption “Punish those guilty of Babri Demolition”.