The Allahabad High Court on Monday denied bail to an Islamic cleric who has been accused of inciting violence during a protest in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly in September 2025.The protest was held against alleged atrocities and filing of allegedly false cases against Muslims by the state government.The bench observed that Maulana Tauqeer Raza, the cleric accused in the matter, had called for the protest “admittedly to satisfy his religious and his private political interests”. The gathering had been organised without permission from the authorities, the court said.The court made the observations on a plea filed by Raza seeking bail in the matter.The bench said that while the applicant has claimed to have cancelled the gathering at a college ground after the administration denied permission for the protest, the demonstrators had marched to the venue.The police personnel performing their duty to maintain law and order were allegedly manhandled by the crowd, the court said. The crowd “indulged in rioting, destruction of public property resulting in injuries to police personnel”, it said in its order.The court said that while Raza was not present at the place of the incident, and was at the home of a co-accused, his speech after the violence thanking the crowd and “applauding their acts cannot also be approved of”, the bench said.The court said that it “finds force” in the state’s submission that shouting the slogan “gustakh-e-nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se juda, sar tan se juda”, was a “challenge to the authority of law”, and the sovereignty and integrity of India. The slogan, which translates to “the only punishment for disrespecting the prophet is beheading”, had been allegedly shouted at the gathering.The slogan incites people for an “arm (sic) rebellion which is punishable under the law”, the bench added.It cannot be equated to other slogans such as “Nara-e-takbir, Allahu Akbar”, “Jo bole so nihal sat sri akal”, “Jai shri Ram” or “Har har Mahadev”, which are shouted to express respect for the god or guru.The High Court had in December made similar observations while denying bail to a co-accused in the case.The court had observed at the time that the “sar tan se juda” slogan incites people to an “armed rebellion” and is punishable under section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which pertains to acts that endanger India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity.After the violence, the police had filed first information reports against 25 identified persons and 1,700 unidentified persons, Bar and Bench reported.Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.