Koran verses on woman's back in Mumbai Mirror Buzz offend Muslims

Right when the Prophet Mohammed's offensive cartoons lead to diplomatic breakdowns, Mumbai Muslims had their small battle with a newspaper.

BY A CORRESPONDENT

6 February 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

Mumbai's Central line faced three hours of disruption as protestors agitated in Mumbra and VT area against a photograph carried by Mumbai Mirror' weekly supplement Mirror Buzz.

The photo in Mumbai Mirror Buzz showed the back of a woman tattooed with Koranic verses. Angry at what they were calling an insult to Islam, the protestors resorted to a rail-roko, blocking first the Mumbai central line's slow track and then the fast track.

According to A K Singh, public relations officer, Central Railway, "55 trains were cancelled due to the interruption caused by the rail-roko." In Mulund, railway officials had to reimburse ticket charges to passengers because of the delay in trains.

The bandh started on Saturday around 10 a.m. in sporadic protests carried out by independent individuals. By Sunday however, the protests had intensified as a number of dailies carried news of Saturday's protests. A Mumbra Samachar article that carried the offensive photograph was pasted on walls all over the area.

Agitators closed shops forcibly and took to stone pelting in some Muslim-majority areas. Private transport and auto rickshaws kept off the road fearing that the situation worsen. According to reports, several presspersons too faced the wrath of the crowd.