Prophet comments row: FIRs in Delhi against journalist Saba Naqvi, Naveen Jindal, Nupur Sharma

Journalist Saba Naqvi, expelled BJP Delhi media head Naveen Jindal, and Hindu Mahasabha member Pooja Shakun Pandey are among those named in an FIR registered by the Delhi police on Wednesday, Indian Express reported. The police’s special cell also filed a separate FIR against suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

The FIRs were filed after the police said the social media posts of those named “could lead to differences between two communities and hurt religious sentiments”.

The first FIR names eight people: Maulana Mufti Nadeem, Shadab Chauhan, Abdur Rehman, Gulzar Ansari, Anil Kumar Meena, as well as Naqvi, Jindal and Pandey. The second named Sharma and “other social media users”, Express reported.

KPS Malhotra, the DCP of the police’s intelligence fusion and strategic operations unit, told Express: “We have lodged an FIR under several IPC sections against those who were spreading messages of hate, inciting various groups and creating situations which are detrimental to the maintenance of public tranquility.”

Malhotra said the police “will investigate the roles of various social media entities in promoting false and wrong information with an intention to create unrest in cyberspace”.

The flurry of FIRs follows the diplomatic row surrounding comments on the Prophet made by Sharma, and later echoed by Jindal, during a debate on Times Now on May 26. After multiple countries – including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Indonesia, Jordan, Iraq, Libya and the UAE – condemned the comments, the BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal.