The News Minute | February 05, 2015 | 11.20 am IST
Shirin Dalvi, the editor of Avadhnama , an Urdu daily, has been given extended interim bail , after her arrest following her decision to print a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed in the paper.
Arrested from Mumbra after a complaint against her , she had been released on bail by the court later, reported PTI.
However, after another case was filed against her in Mumbai, she had approached the sessions court seeking anticipatory bail ,said the report.
Adjourning the hearing , Additional Sessions Judge A J Patangankar heard the case providing her interim protection from arrest till February 10.
The Mumbai edition of Avadhnama was shut down after the cartoon’s publication. The other six editions of the paper all based in Uttar Pradesh, which didnt carry the cartoon continue to remain open.
"The accused, Shirin Dalvi, editor of an Urdu daily Avadhnama, has hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community and granting her anticipatory bail will create law and order problem," the police told the court.
Dalvi had earlier in a written apology for a TV news channel said that it had been a mistake and had no intention of hurting the feelings of anyone in her community.
The outrage had begun after she ran an image depicting Prophet Muhammed that had been used by Charlie Hebdo, the french satirical magazine that had been attacked in Paris recently.
Following the deadly terror attacks , many newspapers and magazines across the world reprinted some of Hebdo’s most controversial cartoons in a show of support for the magazine.
Not only was she arrested for hurting religious sentiments, six different complaints were lodged against her in Mumbai, reported Indian Express.
Dalvi who lost her job on January 19, two days after printing the cartoon has since then begun using a burqa, said the report.
"Avadhnama" is published from Lucknow, Faizabad, Aligarh, Azamgarh and Saharanpur, while the Mumbai edition was launched around a year ago.
A local citizen, identified as Nusrat Ali complained to the Mumbra Police on the Urdu tabloid which carried the cartoon, contending it hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community and could create hatred among communities.
Soon after the complaint in Thane and similar complaints in Mumbai by various individuals, the Mumbra police investigated the matter and arrested Dalvi, the official said.
The decision of the newspaper to reprint the contentious cartoons had sparked protests among Muslim journalists while the Urdu Patrakar Sangh had condemned the newspaper and demanded Dalvi's arrest.
Following the outrage, Dalvi had admitted to the "mistake" and tendered an unconditional apology through the columns of her newspaper, but it was not accepted by the Muslim media.
With inputs from IANS