Indian police arrest editor over Charlie Hebdo reprint

Published January 29, 2015
— Reuters/file
— Reuters/file

MUMBAI: Police have arrested and bailed the editor of an Urdu-language newspaper in Mumbai for reprinting an anti-Islam cartoon from satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, police said Thursday.

Shirin Dalvi, editor of the Mumbai edition of the daily Avadhnama newspaper, was arrested by police in the town of Mumbra in Thane district, close to the financial capital.

The editor was arrested under section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, which bans malicious and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings.

Read: Editor among 12 killed in attack on Paris weekly

“She was arrested by us, produced in the court and granted bail. We are investigating the matter,” S.M. Mundhe, senior police inspector in Mumbra, told AFP.

The Indian Express said several readers approached police in Mumbai and Thane after Urdu paper Avadhnama reprinted the Charlie Hebdo cover image, which was published after gunmen stormed the magazine's offices in Paris on January 7 and killed 12 people.

Also read: This week's Charlie Hebdo to feature more anti-Islam cartoons

Mundhe did not confirm details of the Charlie Hebdo cover in question and AFP was unable to reach staff who could comment at Avadhnama, which has several editions across India.

Last week, tens of thousands across Muslim-majority India-held Kashmir, Afghanistan and Pakistan took to the streets to protest against the Charlie Hebdo's cartoons.

Opinion

Editorial

Impending slaughter
Updated 07 May, 2024

Impending slaughter

Seven months into the slaughter, there are no signs of hope.
Wheat investigation
07 May, 2024

Wheat investigation

THE Shehbaz Sharif government is in a sort of Catch-22 situation regarding the alleged wheat import scandal. It is...
Naila’s feat
07 May, 2024

Naila’s feat

IN an inspirational message from the base camp of Nepal’s Mount Makalu, Pakistani mountaineer Naila Kiani stressed...
Plugging the gap
06 May, 2024

Plugging the gap

IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede...
Terrains of dread
Updated 06 May, 2024

Terrains of dread

Restored faith in the police is unachievable without political commitment and interprovincial support.
Appointment rules
Updated 06 May, 2024

Appointment rules

If the judiciary had the power to self-regulate, it ought to have exercised it instead of involving the legislature.