Indian police arrest editor over Charlie Hebdo reprint

Published
59

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

Debt that stays
30 Jul, 2026

Debt that stays

THE power sector’s circular debt grew by Rs61bn in the last fiscal year, taking the total to roughly Rs1.67tr from...
HIV warning
30 Jul, 2026

HIV warning

THE HIV infections detected around two SESSI-run hospitals in Karachi demand far more than another hurried committee...
End trafficking
30 Jul, 2026

End trafficking

MODERN slavery, in the form of human trafficking, is among the state’s gravest failures. Scores of Pakistanis are...
AJK elections
29 Jul, 2026

AJK elections

CONSIDERING the political unrest that has rocked Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past, free and fair general...
Still vulnerable
29 Jul, 2026

Still vulnerable

THE State Bank’s decision to hold the policy rate at 11.5pc is a prudent response to the heightened risks the...
Guarding the past
29 Jul, 2026

Guarding the past

THE return of 513 smuggled archaeological artefacts from the US is a welcome homecoming for objects that should ...