Kolhapur: When Mohammed Momin posted a video status on WhatsApp last week praising Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, the 19-year-old may not have fathomed that it would trigger a two-day bandh, land him behind bars, turn villagers against his family and compel them to abandon their home “till things cool down”. A resident of Savarde village in Hatkanangale taluka of Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district, Momin is currently lodged at the sub-jail in Kolhapur after a court sent him to 14-day judicial custody Monday. He was arrested on 17 March after an FIR was lodged against him earlier that day on the complaint of a villager who accused him of ‘hurting religious sentiments’. Momin was booked under Sections 298 (wounding religious feelings) and 505(2) (promoting enmity between classes) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). “He has hurt religious sentiments of Hindus intentionally with an ill-intent to spread content praising Aurangzeb over social media to create a rift between communities,” read the FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint. On 16 March, Momin had posted a video status on WhatsApp. In the video, an unidentified voice in the background can be heard saying, “Tum naam toh badal loge, lekin itihaas naa badal paaoge. Woh pahaad aaj
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Family in hiding, village tense — how WhatsApp status praising Aurangzeb turned Muslim …
