New Delhi: Days after a plaque bearing the national emblem was vandalised by a group of people at Srinagar’s historic Hazratbal shrine, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police registered an FIR against at least 25 people involved.
The act caught on video last week was widely circulated on microblogging site X and has now snowballed into a political storm, igniting a fresh round of ‘Kashmir versus the rest of India’ debates online, where questions of faith, nationalism and law are colliding head-on.
It all began as local outrage over the Waqf Board’s installation of the Ashoka emblem on an inauguration stone at Hazratbal, one of the most revered religious sites in Kashmir that houses the holy relic of Prophet Muhammad, the Moi-e-Muqaddas.
The issue has, in the past few days, developed into a controversy with legal, political and communal undertones. While the Waqf Board insists that the vandalism was an insult to national honour, opposition leaders and religious bodies accuse the Board of violating both religious sensibilities and the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.
On Monday, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah publicly questioned the Waqf Board’s decision to affix the emblem at Hazratbal.
“First of all, please explain to me what the need was to put up that stone,” Abdullah said. “Sher-e-Kashmir (Sheikh Abdullah) established the Hazratbal shrine. However, he never put his name on it anywhere because it was not necessary.”
He said that mosques and shrines are religious spaces, not government institutions, and argued that the placement of the emblem was bound to trigger opposition.
According to the police, at least 25 people were detained after CCTV footage identified those allegedly involved in breaking the plaque.
While no arrests have been formally made yet, the FIR invokes multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to rioting, causing wrongful loss, disturbing religious worship and criminal conspiracy. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act has also been applied.
The police action has intensified anger in the Kashmir Valley. National Conference MP Aga Ruhullah Mehdi called the detentions “operational retribution” and urged the administration to adopt “reconciliation and empathy” instead of criminalising religious sentiment.
Religious sentiment at core
At the heart of the controversy lies the shrine’s religious significance. Hazratbal houses a relic believed to be a hair strand of Prophet Muhammad, making it Kashmir’s most sacred Muslim site. In Islam, depictions of living beings or symbols resembling idols are strictly forbidden.
In a statement shared with ThePrint, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the spiritual leader of Kashmir’s Muslims and the head of the Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema, a coalition of Kashmiri religious organisations, said that Hazratbal is the “spiritual heart of Kashmiris”.
“Islam is explicit: no plaques, emblems, or symbols are permitted in mosques or shrines. Filing FIRs against worshippers who protested from the depth of their faith is unjustified,” the statement said, urging the immediate removal of the plaque.
The statement further said that Hazratbal is bound to the faith and identity of Kashmiri Muslims through centuries of devotion. “Any alteration that undermines its sanctity deeply pains the devotional sentiments attached to it.”
The statement noted that during the Hazratbal reconstruction in the 1970s, led by Sheikh Abdullah, no plaques or foundation stones were placed, “out of respect for the injunctions of Shari‘ah and tradition”.
“To introduce them now sets a dangerous and unnecessary precedent,” it added.
Waheed Para, youth leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), echoed similar concerns, describing the installation as an “avoidable act of insensitivity” by the Waqf authorities.
“Workers are actually insensitive to the issues of faith. It starts from there. Otherwise, there has never been a conflict between the national emblem or faith,” Para told ThePrint.
He argued that the controversy stemmed from the Waqf Board’s lack of consultation with religious scholars. “There is an Act which lays down guidelines on where the national emblem should be placed. Its violation is the first reason for this controversy. Threatening people with the PSA (Public Safety Act) before even ascertaining responsibility is unacceptable. We have seen how innocents have suffered under PSA in the past,” he said.
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What law says
Kashmir-based advocate Umair Ronga said the Waqf Board may have violated the law.
In a phone conversation with ThePrint, Ronga said that the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act states that the emblem can only be used by those authorised by the Ministry of Home Affairs. “The Waqf Board is an autonomous body, not empowered to use the emblem on its own,” Ronga said.
He said that while vandalism is legally punishable, the root cause was the Waqf Board’s “disregard” for due process. “Tomorrow, if I put the emblem sticker on my car, authorities will remove it. That doesn’t mean they are disrespecting the emblem, it simply cannot be used without authorisation,” he explained.
Ronga also warned that the FIRs could deepen alienation, adding that the situation has unnecessarily been turned into ‘Kashmir versus India’.
“People could have taken the legal route to challenge the installation. Instead, vandalism has taken place, and now detentions will provoke more anger.”
Ronga warned against what he termed “hyper-nationalism” being pushed into religious spaces. “Shrines are not meant for symbols of political power. The law itself prohibits such misuse. Yet, what we saw was an attempt to showcase super-nationalism at a sacred site.”
Online, political polarisation
Opposition parties accused Waqf Board chairperson and BJP leader Darakhshan Andrabi of violating the State Emblem Act. The PDP’s Iltija Mufti called the installation “blasphemous” and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti demanded the disbanding of the Waqf Board. People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone described the act as “regrettable”.
The BJP, meanwhile, framed the vandalism as “anti-national”, accusing opposition leaders of siding with those who disrespected a national symbol. Andrabi said the act was “nothing less than terrorism” and sought the use of the PSA against the accused.
IAS officer Shah Faesal said desecration of the emblem was serious, but warned that the “mistake of a few” should not be allowed to stigmatise an entire community.
On ‘X’, the viral videos have sparked fierce debates. While many called the act “anti-national”, Kashmiri voices argued it was a defence of religious sanctity. One user posted: “Your faith is not greater than Bharat.”
Darab Farooqui, a writer, took to X and said, “In Islam, pictures or representations of living beings are forbidden. This concept is fundamental and essential to Islam, and changing it would mean changing Islam and denying Muslims the right to freely practice their religion.”
Calling the move “malicious”, he wrote that it was an attempt to “incite a conflict” between religion and country. “I simply don’t see why Ashoka’s Lions would be put inside Hazrat Bal.”
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)