Indian police charge Muslim woman over Babri Masjid video
Doctor arrested in Uttar Pradesh for posting video mourning demolition of historic mosque, highlighting shrinking space for Muslim dissent under Hindu nationalist rule
NEW DELHI, India (MNTV) — Police in northern India have charged a Muslim woman for posting a video about the Babri Masjid, the 16th-century mosque demolished by a Hindu extremist mob in Ayodhya in 1992, in what rights groups say is the latest attempt to criminalize Muslim identity and silence public memory of the destruction.
The woman, identified as Dr. Sheeba Khan, was detained in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and a political stronghold of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Authorities accused her of uploading an “objectionable video” on a day when police claimed to be monitoring social media for security reasons. She was arrested from her medical clinic and later released on a personal bond.
Police alleged the video could “disturb communal harmony” and registered a case against her under Section 196 of India’s new criminal code and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, laws experts say are increasingly deployed to suppress dissent rather than protect public order. Officials said a “technical examination” of the video is underway.
The action comes as December 6, the anniversary of the mosque’s demolition, remains one of the most emotionally charged dates for India’s 200 million Muslims. Hindu extremist groups celebrate the day as Shaurya Diwas (Day of Valour), while Muslims commemorate it as Black Day, mourning the violent destruction that reshaped India’s political landscape.
The Supreme Court of India acknowledged in 2019 that the Babri Masjid was illegally destroyed by Hindu mobs — but controversially awarded the land to Hindu litigants for construction of a temple, a decision widely viewed as a capitulation to majoritarian pressure and a stark example of a compromised judiciary under rising Hindu nationalism.
Human-rights observers say the case against Dr. Khan reflects a deeper pattern: Muslims in India are increasingly punished not only for protesting injustice, but for remembering it. Analysts warn that state criminalization of grief and historical truth marks a dangerous escalation, erasing Muslim trauma while elevating a triumphalist Hindutva narrative.
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