Prominent Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi have apologized for publishing an ‘offensive’ comment about Prophet Muhammad. The comment was first posted on a social media site.
The controversial comment was a response to a story on Kerala’s high court judge Kemal Pasha’s observations on Muslims practising polygamy and their religious laws.
The judge had pointed out the misogynous implications of the law and had asked whether it would be all right with Muslim men if Muslim women had four husbands.
The Calicut edition of Mathrubhumi carried responses to Kemal Pasha’s views in the AppsTalk section of the newspaper on Wednesday. One of the posts criticized the Prophet, without naming him, for “marrying six-year-old Aisha”.
The newspaper immediately stirred negative reactions including campaigns on social media demanding an apology. PFI, SDPI and others groups gathered to protest outside the newspaper’s offices at various locations.
Numerous pictures were uploaded on social media showing people burning the newspaper. #boycottmathrubhumi is a trending topic on Twitter.
@mathrubhumi if you cant even edit and check through an article..you guys are not fit to run a newspaper #boycottmathrubhumi
Earlier, in September 2015, Mathrubhumi had terminated M M Basheer’s column after after people objected to a Muslim writing about the Ramayana. Hanuman Sena had reportedly threatened the newspaper with negative consequences.
