The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday filed a first information report after an inauguration plaque with the Ashoka emblem placed inside the Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar was vandalised, Greater Kashmir reported.

The Islamic shrine houses a holy relic of Prophet Muhammad. The structure had recently undergone a renovation and was inaugurated by Darakshan Andrabi, chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, The Hindu reported.

A plaque featuring the national emblem was also installed at the site, which sparked criticism, the Hindustan Times reported. On Friday, protesters allegedly damaged the inauguration plaque with stones and chanted slogans, saying that the emblem went against Islamic principles.

Videos of the vandalism were shared widely on social media.

Following this, Andrabi said that the act was a “grave insult” to the shrine and described it as “nothing less than terrorism”, Greater Kashmir reported.

She urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and law enforcement agencies to arrest those involved in the act, claiming that it was “deliberately engineered by political workers and their supporters”.

On Saturday, an unidentified police officer told PTI that a case had been registered at the Nigeen Police Station following the incident at Hazratbal.

The case was filed under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to voluntarily disturbing an assembly lawfully performing religious worship or ceremonies, intentional insults intended to provoke a breach of the peace or another offence, rioting, cause wrongful loss or damage and criminal conspiracy, PTI reported.

The first information report also invoked the Prevention of Insults to the National Honour Act.

Emblem only meant for government functions: CM

On Saturday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah criticised the use of the national emblem on the plaque, stating that the symbol was meant for government functions and not religious institutions, PTI reported.

Saying that the “mistake” had hurt religious sentiments, the National Conference leader said that the Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board should apologise for placing the emblem at the site.

“First, the question arises whether the national emblem should have been used on this stone or not,” the news agency quoted Abdullah as telling reporters in Anantnag. “I have never seen an emblem being used in this way in any religious place.”

The chief minister said that mosques, shrines, temples and gurdwaras were religious and not government institutions. Government emblems are not used in religious institutions, he added.

Abdullah also criticised Andrabi’s response to protesters damaging the plaque, saying that the waqf board “played with the sentiments of the people” and was now using threats.

“First, at least, they [waqf board] should have apologised for it. They should admit the mistake. It should not have happened,” he said.

The installation of the plaque had also drawn criticism from several other political leaders as well.

National Conference MLA Tanvir Sadiq said that idol worship was strictly forbidden in Islam, The Hindu reported. “Placing a sculpted figure at the revered Hazratbal dargah goes against this very belief,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti said that it was “deeply shocking” and “absurd” that the police had filed an FIR “knowing well that religious sentiments were deliberately hurt at Hazratbal Dargah yesterday”.

She added on X: “Waqf comprises entirely of Muslims yet they showed utter disdain & insensitivity. They are the ones who should be booked immediately.”

On the other hand, the Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP claimed that the National Conference was supporting the “shameful incident” of protesters breaking the national emblem at the Hazratbal shrine.

Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju also condemned the damage to the national emblem and said that the Hazratbal shrine is a symbol of peace.

“The shrine’s deep connection to the Prophet Muhammad’s relic has truly contributed to its image as a beacon of ‘Faith & Unity’,” the BJP leader said on X. “I strongly condemn the vandalism of the sacred Ashoka Emblem from the Dargah Hazratbal inauguration stone.”

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