Court modifies Quran distribution judgment

Ranchi: A Ranchi court which had awarded the punishment of distributing five copies of the Quran to a Hindu girl modified it’s judgment on Wednesday.

“The court of Manish Kumar modified it’s judgment in which it had directed to distribute five copies of Quran to different institutions to Richa Kumari” Arvind Kumar, a lawyer at the Ranchi district court, told IANS.

The court said that she does not have to distribute the copies now.

The Ranchi District Bar Association boycotted Judge Manish Kumar Singh’s court on Wednesday and will continue to do so on Thursday.

“We kept ourselves away from judicial process from court of Manish Kumar” Kundan Rakashan, Ranchi District Bar Association secretary, told IANS.

Richa Patel, a 19-year-old girl who was released on bail on the condition of distributing the Quran to five institutions had said that she would move the High Court against the order.

She was to submit the receipt for the distributed copies to the court in 15 days.

“I have shared a Facebook post. The person who shared it on Facebook should have been arrested first. I will appeal against the court order in High Court. Today I have been asked to distribute Quran and tomorrow I may be asked to accept Islam” Richa had told reporters on Tuesday.

A case was registered against her Muslim community institution Anjuman committee Pithoria last week based on her Facebook post at Pithoria police station in Ranchi. She was charged with spreading communal hatred through her Facebook post. She was arrested within three hours of the post. Her arrest had created resentment among Hindu community members with Hindu organisations taking out a protest march.

By IANS