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Hyderabad: On June 30, a Special Court for MP/MLA cases acquitted Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh in the 2022 case over his communal and insensitive remarks against Prophet Muhammad and Islam, raising many eyebrows, especially amongst the Muslim community in Hyderabad and India.

The court released a detailed order, describing why the Hindutva leader was acquitted.

Burt first, let us go back to what he had said then.

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What did Raja Singh say about Prophet and Muslims?

Singh had posted a nearly 10 minute video on YouTube on the night of August 22, 2022, titled “Faruqui K Aaka Ka Ithaas Suniye” on his YouTube channel Sree Ram Channel Telangana.

He remarked about Prophet Mohammad’s marriages and his son to divorce his wife before marrying her himself, and called the Quran hara kitaab (green book)

He referred to Muslims as gol topi wale (skull-cap wearers) and said the community is involved in cow slaughter, and warned that the Kshatriya community would not hesitate to resort to violence if needed to protect the cow.

He attacked comedian Munawar Faruqui to eat pork, a forbidden meat in Islam, to “become strong.” He went as far as launching a distasteful attack of the comedian’s mother and how the family suffered during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

He concluded the video calling it a “comedy.”

What followed

The video unleashed a wave of protests across the Old City, with large crowds gathering at Shalibanda and other areas to demand his arrest. Clashes between protestors and police left a sub-inspector and at least three others injured, shops across several markets downed shutters, and effigies of Singh were burnt.

Singh, then representing his constituency on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket, was immediately suspended.

Cases were registered under Indian Penal Court (IPC, now BNS) Sections 153(A) (promoting enmity between groups), 295(A) (deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

On August 23, he was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act. He spend 77 days in the Cherlapally Central Prison from August 25, 2022, to November 9, 2022 before being granted bail. According to the court, the Hyderabad Police did not follow proper procedure in arrest and ordered his release.

He was eventually booked in eight cases by the Hyderabad and Cyberabad police over the episode.

This is what court has to say about his acquittal

In the detailed order, the court flagged several discrepancies by investigating officers during the four-year process.

The court said that the former BJP leader’s remarks on Prophet Muhammed’s marriages matches in the Quran text. Citing Sahih Al-Bukhari and Surah Al-Ahzab verses, referencing Prophet’s marriage to a young Aisha and his marriage to Zaynab following her separation from his son, Zayd, ther court observed it was mentioned in the religious text and hence dismissed any “deliberate and malicious” intent to “insult.”

On hara kitaab, the court noted green coloured books are normal daily sightings and hence the prosecution’s accusation that Raja Singh’s reference was deliberately insulting to the Quran is inconclusive.

On gol topi wale, the court said that it is a common practise for Muslims to be seen with skull caps and hence, the claim, Raja Singh made the comment to communally target the community, falls null.

The investigating officer admitted he had not verified whether the statements drew on recognised religious sources before filing the charge sheet, while the prosecution’s own forensic expert reportedly flagged discontinuities in the video evidence and gaps in its chain of custody.

Lastly, the court flagged procedural and documentary lapses. The mobile phone used to view the original video was never seized by investigators; and the translator’s rendering of the speech was produced by someone without formal translation credentials. “This cannot be treated as gospel truth,” the court noted.

With all the observation, the court found Raja Singh not guilty and acquitted him. It also made broader observations in its judgment about the responsibility of police to conduct fair and impartial investigations, stating that officers should not “waste their time with regard to frivolous, biased and false complaints” and should focus their resources on genuine offenders.