Solkar explained that if the contents of Zakir’s lectures or his speeches were examined in the context in which he speaks and the entirety of his lecture, nobody would ever conclude the latter would inspire terrorism or inspire others to commit terrorist acts, The Indian Express reported.
“I do not agree that these 55 people may have been inspired by Dr Naik to commit terrorist acts,” he was quoted as saying by the daily.
Solkar was responding to a list – drawn up by security agencies in India – of 55 terror suspects who were arrested across the country in the past 10 years and alleged to have been influenced by, or to have watched, Zakir’s speeches.
He also noted that none of the First Information Reports (FIR) filed by authorities against the Mumbai-born televangelist lists terror charges.
FIR is a written document prepared by police organisations in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan after receiving information about an offence. It is similar to an investigation paper that follows a police report lodged by a victim of an offence or by someone on the victim’s behalf.
Solkar said that these FIRs were registered by “some people who obviously had an allegiance to the right wing”.
“They have also relied upon and gone through some doctored speeches (by Zakir) available on the Internet, and not relied on his entire speech. We have already filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court for quashing of three FIRs filed in Maharashtra,” he said.
Sources from the security agencies told The Indian Express that the list contains terror suspects arrested as far back as 2005 and include those detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) earlier this year.
These suspects have claimed affiliation to groups such as the Simi, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Indian Mujahideen and the Islamic State.
Zakir, who came down to Malaysia recently for a series of talks, came into the spotlight following a terror attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which killed 22 people.
This, after two of the militants from Islamic State, Rohan Imtiaz and Nibran Islam, claimed they were “inspired” by Zakir and have been his “staunch” followers on Facebook and on the Peace Television Channel.
Zakir has repeatedly denied he promotes terrorism and has even denounced the Dhaka attack.