Muslim man gets bail in ‘I Love Mohammed’ case after 7 months’ custody in UP
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In the wake of the rampant arrests made by the UP police over the display of ‘I Love Mohammed’ posters and banners during Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi celebrations, one among the many accused, Nadeem, was granted bail after six months in jail, as the Allahabad High Court observed that the post never named any caste or community, thus releasing him on a personal bond with two sureties.
Justice Rajiv Lochan Shukla said that the evidentiary material failed to disclose any explicit communal provocation, even as the court took cognisance of the prolonged custody endured by the accused since October 7, 2025, and the filing of the chargesheet, which diminished the immediacy of custodial necessity, particularly in light of the anticipated delay in trial proceedings, as argued by his counsel, Atul Kumar.
The state, however, opposed the plea, contending that Nadeem’s video was incendiary and citing his declaration that he would “slit his own neck and that of others” in defence of the slogan, which authorities have linked to unrest, most notably in Bareilly in September 2025.
The controversy traces back to early September in Kanpur’s Rawatpur, where sections of the Hindu community opposed the slogan’s display during processions, triggering confrontations, police intervention, removal of the banner, and FIRs alleging an attempt to introduce a disruptive practice in a sensitive area.
What followed was a cascade of coercive action, as multiple FIRs were lodged against dozens of individuals, with law enforcement asserting that the banner’s placement along routes traditionally associated with Ram Navami processions had aggravated tensions, while parallel developments in Bareilly witnessed protests led by Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, culminating in clashes, arrests, and allegations of orchestrated unrest.
Data compiled by the Association for Protection of Civil Rights suggested a staggering scale of enforcement, with over 1,300 individuals booked across states in connection with the slogan.