When Urdu Book on Prophet Got Publisher Killed, Earned India Blasphemy Law

When Urdu book on Prophet got publisher killed, earned India blasphemy law

A movie on Kanhaiya Lal Teli, a tailor in Udaipur who was beheaded by two Muslim men for sharing a post supporting a BJP leader's comments on Prophet Muhammad, is caught in a storm of controversy. In 1929, publisher Mahashe Rajpal was stabbed to death by a 19-year-old Muslim carpenter for the book Rangeela Rasool. Massive protests over the book resulted in the British introducing the blasphemy law in India.

Katie Lam: We must not allow a blasphemy law to come in by the back door

Katie Lam is the MP for the Weald of Kent and a former advisor in Downing Street and the Home Office. Four years ago, a teacher at Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire showed his pupils a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad during a religious studies class. The subsequent images we saw were repugnant: angry young men outside the school, many hooded and masked, intimidating staff, parents and pupils. The campaign of abuse levelled at the teache…