On Sunday (14th January), Kerala Police said that they booked Sathar Panthallur, vice-president of the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation (SKSSF), for making ‘hand-chopping’ statements during an SKSSF protest here dubbed Muqaddas in Mallapuram. The incident’s video had gone viral on social media.
Panthallur is reportedly seen threatening in the video of his controversial speech that SKSSF activists will chop off the hands of anyone who tries to tarnish, insult, or attack Samastha leaders.
“The activists of the SKSSF will come forward to chop off the hands of anyone who tries to give a blow or cause difficulties to the eminent scholars and ustads of the Samastha,” he had said.
Panthallur also condemned the influence of Wahhabism in the Muslim community, according to a Manorama report. “Wahhabism has given ideological legitimacy to terrorist organisations such as ISIS. Muslims in Kerala would have been compelled to bear such a burden if Samastha had not compromised and joined forces with such groups in the community,” Sathar Panthallur added.
The comments came just days after Muslim League state general secretary P M A Salam was accused of making slandering statements about Samastha President Jifri Muthukoya Thangal.
Police filed a complaint against him under IPC Section 153, which stipulates punishment for willfully making provocative remarks with the intent of inciting a riot. According to a Manorama report, a man named Ashraf Kalathingal filed a complaint against Panthallur. Meanwhile, Samastha and the Muslim League are reported to have expressed disappointment over the SKSSF leader’s comments.
Samastha is a Sunni cleric federation divided into two factions, with one faction sympathetic to the IUML and the other siding with the CPM. Panthallur is one of the leaders who has spoken out against IUML’s dominance within the group. Panthallur’s contentious remarks came amid reports of growing discord between a group of Samastha scholars and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the UDF’s second-largest coalition member.
Notably, SKSSF is the student wing of Samastha Kerala Jem-iyyathul Ulama. Recently, Kozhikode Police booked Samastha leader Mukkam Umar Faizi over his alleged remark “Muslim women who did not wear the hijab were persons of loose morals” during a television debate.