Lawyer files complaint on receiving "death threats" over Sabarimala PIL

Khan said a caller threatened to "blow him up with a bomb" and asked him to "withdraw the petition from court".
Lawyer files complaint on receiving "death threats" over Sabarimala PIL
Lawyer files complaint on receiving "death threats" over Sabarimala PIL
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Naushad Ahmed Khan, an additional standing counsel for the Delhi government, filed a complaint with the police on Wednesday stating he had received "death threats" over a PIL seeking entry for all girls and women in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, The Indian Express reported. 

It is the women members of the Indian Young Lawyers Association, an organisation of which Khan is the president, who filed the PIL. 

According to IE, Khan claimed that he received "threatening calls" for "interfering" even though he is not involved with the PIL directly. 

"I am the president of the Young Lawyers Association but the plea has been filed by women lawyers, many of whom are not even members of the association. I have never been involved with the PIL," Khan told IE. 

In his complaint, he said that among the threats he had received was one where a caller threatened to "blow him up with a bomb" and asked him to "withdraw the petition from court". 

He even tried to "explain" to the caller that since the court was looking into the PIL, it could not be withdrawn. 

The IE report further states, "Khan said he was also targeted on social media. His name, picture and phone number showed up on Twitter, with a message in Malayalam, asking 'Why is this man showing so much enthusiasm for something which millions of Sabarimala devotees do not want? Who is behind this man?'" 

The Supreme Court on Monday asked why women should not be allowed to enter the Sabarimala temple.

Hearing arguments in a 10-year-old case filed by the Young Lawyers Association, the apex court asked if the government was sure that women had not entered the temple in the last 1,500 years. The  bench headed by Justice Deepak Mishra observed that according to the Indian constitution, women cannot be disallowed. Though the case was filed many years ago, it had not come up for hearing, folllowing which the petitioner gave a fresh application. The court asked lawyer KK Venugopal who appeared for the Travancore Devasom Board whether there was any basis for such a rule other than based on religion and religious beliefs. 

Also read: 'Women not safe on streets, why go on tough Sabarimalapilgrimage?': Devaswom chief

Advocate on Record Ravi Prakash Gupta, who has been arguing the case in the Apex court, told The Indian Express that he too had received similar calls on Wednesday "berating" him for "going against religion".
 
"This is a legal issue. I am a Hindu. Our religion is very inclusive. Such regressive and restrictive practices should not continue in these modern times," he told the newspaper. 

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