Ranchi: A young yoga teacher in the state capital has become a target for fundamentalist groups who seem to dislike her ideas of secularism and gender equality.
Rafiya Naaz (20), a resident of Rahmat Colony in Doranda, is being trolled on social media and has been receiving threat calls for a few months now, prompting SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi to assign her two 24/7 bodyguards two days ago. But, police protection notwithstanding, hoodlums pelted stones at her house twice since Wednesday night.
An FIR was not registered till the filing of this report, but SSP Dwivedi said police would still investigate the stone-pelting incidents, which happened once around 10.45pm and again around 2am (Thursday).
"It looks like the handiwork of local goons. We have already provided the yoga teacher two bodyguards, one of them a lady constable. We are assessing the threat perception," the senior police officer added.
Rafiya, who teaches children at Adim Jati Seva Mandal in Niwaranpur and has 52 trophies to her credit, said she was saddened by the repeated attacks on her, both in the virtual and real worlds.
"Some people with fundamentalist mindset dislike my practising yoga. They also dislike my secular ideals and want me to stop teaching yoga. They say it is against religion. I don't think so. I have been receiving threat calls. In the past, clerics have issued fatwa against me too," the gutsy woman told this newspaper.
Rafiya underscored that yoga had nothing to do with religious tenets. "It is the science of well-being. It is the way to remain youthful by integrating the body, the mind and the soul," she said, but conceded that she was scared.
Doranda OC Uday Pratap Singh said hoodlums targeted the teacher as soon as she relieved from duty her bodyguards on Wednesday night owing to accommodation issues.
"I was on patrol and immediately reached the spot. Stones were pelted at her neighbour's house too. I called one of her bodyguards back without delay," OC Singh said. Sources in police said the victim had provided a phone number - 9570545375 - from which she was receiving threat calls.
Rafiya, who is pursuing her master degree in commerce from Marwari College, is also the general secretary of the students' union affiliated to Ajsu Party. She is seen as a born leader who can fight for the cause of students.
Friends said she rose to popularity owing to her passion for yoga. "Rafiya has been pursuing yoga since childhood and has won 52 medals and awards in national- and state-level competitions. In 2005, she had performed on the same stage as yoga practitioner Ramdev," a student of the college said.
Rafiya is also in regular touch with Pakistani yoga practitioner Salim and said she wanted to invite him to India for a yoga conclave to unite the two countries.
General secretary Maulana Qutubuddin Rizvi of Edar-e-Shariya, a decision-making outfit, claimed no fatwa was ever issued against the yoga teacher.
"Rafiya never approached us with her problems. She is free to carry on with her beliefs and profession. There is no restriction on Muslims regarding yoga. Some people are giving communal colour to the incidents. They want communal divide and are using Rafiya," the Maulana said.
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