[11] The Muslims of Malabar not only rebelled against the British authorities, but also against the Hindu local elites of the area[12][13] who suffered from massacres and forced conversions at the hands of the Mappilas.
[14][15] Between April and September 1927 there were at least 25 riots spread across Mumbai, Punjab, Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and other regions, leaving over a hundred dead (103) and over a thousand injured (1084).
[19] Originally published in Urdu[1] and later translated into Hindi, it was written by a member of the Hindu reformist Arya Samaj sect[20] by the name of Pandit Chamupati[21] (or Champovati).
[5] Being a satire, Rangila Rasul had a surface appearance of a lyrical and laudatory work on Muhammad and his teachings, while the marital life of the prophet is treated in a praising tone, in the style of a bhakti[30] (that is, a show of devotion to a god or saint in the Hindu tradition), and some of the controversial points of the book are in fact faithful to what the Islamic tradition indicates about the life of Muhammad.
Those who have read the book know that there is no attempt at ridiculing and the facts put forward in simple and innocent language are entirely based on the writings of standard authors on Islam - both European and Muhammedan.
[40] In response to the finding of innocence, a mass gathering of Muslims was held in early July in front of the Jama Masjid in Delhi, which was preceded by the activist, journalist and politician Maulana Mohammad Ali.
[43] However, the ruling was appealed and Judge Singh took up the case a second time, concluding that while the malicious nature of the pamphlet was a fact, it was difficult for him to proceed as there was no law against insult on religious prophets,[44] leaving Rajpal free in 1928.
[26] Tensions between Muslims and Hindus in the city of Lahore in the summer of 1927 were greatly fueled by the publication of Rangila Rasul and Sair-e-Dozakh ("A Walk Through the Hell", an article critical of Islam published in a magazine called Risala-i-Vartman[45]), and this eventually erupted into riots that left several dead.
His defence lawyer obtained an appeal before the Punjab High Court of Justice in Lahore, and to present his arguments he asked for help from Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
[51] On April 18, 1929, Gandhi published an article in his weekly "Youth India" under the title "The Bomb and the Knife"[56] in which he compared the knife from the assassination of Mahashay Rajpal with the bombs from the revolutionary act (planned not to injure anyone) against the Legislative Assembly in Delhi on April 8, 1929, by Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt (notable members of the pro-independence Hindustan Socialist Republican Association),[57] given the use of force and violence in both cases.
Gandhi declared that both acts (the bombs thrown at the Legislative Assembly and the assassination of publisher Rajpal) followed the "same philosophy of mad revenge and impotent rage.
[61] Given the controversy over the ruling that acquitted the editor (Rajpal) of Rangila Rasul, the government tried to show a stronger hand with a similar case that followed shortly after, with another publication critical of Islam in a magazine called Risala-i-Vartman.
However, the new trial was not enough, and it was decided that the Imperial Legislative Council (colonial predecessor of the current Parliament of India) would analyse a possible reform of the criminal law.
—Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of (citizens of India), (by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise), insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to [three years], or with fine, or with both.Since Pakistan and India were part of the same political unit during the colonial period, the penal reform passed by the Imperial Legislative Council was also inherited in section 295A of the Pakistan Penal Code.