india

Updated: Jul 27, 2019 13:01 IST

A Delhi-based lawyer Mehmood Pracha on Friday went ahead with his plan to apprise Muslims about their right to self-defence and how to apply for a firearm license at a mosque in Lucknow even after prominent Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad who had floated the idea, called off his plan.

Maulana Jawad on whose request Pracha was to hold a camp inside Bada Imambara on July 26 deferred the plan after a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday. Shah had assured the cleric that the Centre would soon enact a law to combat mob-lynching and hate crimes.

But Pracha went ahead with the original plan. Instead of Bada Imambara, he addressed a gathering of Muslims after Friday prayers at the historic Tile Wali Mosque in Lucknow’s Old City.

“I told the people about the right to life and self-defence, which has been guaranteed to them under the Indian Constitution from Article 19 to 21. Muslims and SC/STs have been left with no option but to defend themselves as the authorities and the law enforcement agencies have failed in their duty to protect them,” he said.

Also read: Camp in Lucknow to assist Muslims on how to procure firearms

He denied that there was any formal training camp as was being made out in a section of the media. “I simply addressed the people after Friday prayers and informed them how they can apply for a firearms license and fill-up the form. As a lawyer, I know what I am doing. There is nothing objectionable or illegal. I am well within my Constitutional rights in what I am doing. It’s just that a section of the media is trying to sensationalise the whole issue,” he said adding that he would hold similar meetings all over the country.