Ranchi court grants bail to student, orders her to distribute five copies of Quran

A Ranchi court on Tuesday granted bail to a student for allegedly posting objectionable comments on Facebook against a particular religion but ordered her to distribute 5 copies of Quran to various organisation.

While granting bail to the accused Richa Sharma, the court directed Sharma, who is a B.Com student, to donate one copy of Quran to the Anjuman Islamia Committee and four copies of Muslim religious book to libraries of various school and colleges.

Though Richa’s family members are happy that she has been granted bail by the court they are upset over the court’s order asking Richa to distribute copies of Quran.  Talking to Zee News, Richa said that she will not distribute the copies of Quran but her family members said that they have full respect for Court’s order but the verdict is not correct and they are taking legal opinion to challenge the order in a higher court.

Richa was arrested on Friday and her arrest had led to a massive controversy in the city with members of several Hindu organisations coming out on the streets protesting against the police’s action.

Talking to Zee News, Richa said that she has no hatred against Muslims and she has full respect for Lord Ram as well as Allah. Richa added that she had not posted the content on Facebook to hurt the sentiments of the people of any particular religion. 

Meanwhile, Solicitor General Ajit Kumar defended the court’s decision and said that the court has passed the right order and those who are opposing the court’s order need to understand the rationale behind the court’s verdict. Kumar added that it is the responsibility of everyone to maintain communal harmony and that’s why the court’s order asking Richa to distribute five Qurans is right because it will help her know more about Islam and will teach her a lesson to not post an objectionable comment on social media.

Reacting to court’s verdict, BJP spokesperson Pratul Shahdev said that the court’s decision is surprising as we have never seen or heard any court delivering such verdict in the past.