On Saturday, JNU professor Anand Ranganathan’s Twitter account was restored 10 days after he had been suspended for quoting a line from the Quran.
He wrote: “Hello everyone! Ten days after claiming my quoting a verse was hateful and violated their rules, Twitter has apologised and restored my account. The tweet stays. Thank you for all your love & support. I am overwhelmed. This is a debt I can never repay.”
In the wake of the Bengaluru riots, Ranganathan quoted the holy book and tweeted, "Those who abuse Allah and His Messenger, Allah has CURSED them in this world and the Hereafter and prepared for them a HUMILIATING punishment (sic)." "Let those Muslims who advocate to the contrary have the guts to say they don't believe in this order," he added.
Twitter said that the tweet was violating its rules. "You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age , disability, or serious disease," said the microblogging website.
For the uninitiated, a Muslim mob rampaged through Bengaluru's Pulakeshi Nagar on Tuesday night and vandalised Dalit Congress legislator Akhanda Srinivas Murthy's residence after his nephew Naveen shared a derogatory Facebook post on Prophet Muhammad.
Three people were killed in police firing, while 60 police personnel and many others were injured during the violence.
146 people accused of arson, stone-pelting and assault on the police have been arrested. Murthy's nephew Naveen has also been arrested.
Section 144, which prohibits the gathering of four or more people at a place, has been imposed in the area till 6 am on August 15.
Several took to Twitter and criticised its censorship. #BringBackAnandRanganathan also began trending on the microblogging website.
BJP Mahila Morcha's National Incharge of Social Media Priti Gandhi wrote, "He is one of the most knowledgeable voices I know. All he did was quote verses from the Quran. @ARanganathan72 did not violate any rules. This is censorship of the worst kind @TwitterIndia. Bring him back! #BringBackAnandRanganathan."
Tehseen Poonawalla wrote, "What happened to @ARanganathan72's account? I may disagree with him but I will defend till death his point of views. #BringBackAnandRanganathan NOW!!"
