Maulana arrested for slapping woman advocate during live television debate

New Delhi, July 18: A Muslim cleric was arrested after he slapped Supreme Court lawyer Farah Faiz during a live TV debate on Zee Hindustan news channel on Tuesday.

The Muslim cleric has been identified as Mufti Ejaz Arshad Qasmi. The incident took place on Tuesday evening at the channel's office in Noida when the cleric slapped Farah Faiz, an advocate during an argument on triple talaq.

Faiz had said in the debate that triple talaq is not a form of divorce recognised in the Quran. This triggered a war of words between her and Maulana Qasmi which resulted in the physical scuffle. While the lady anchor tried to intervene and stop Qasmi, but he was in no mood to stop.

Maulana Qasmi was later arrested from the Zee Media's office after a complaint by the media house for assaulting Farah Faiz, an advocate fighting against Triple Talaq.

The news channel took to Twitter to condemn the incident. It also accused Qasmi of misbehaving with writer and activist Amber Zaidi.

#BatanaToPadega शो के शुरुआत में ही मौलाना मुफ्ती एजाज अरशद कासमी ने अंबर जैदी से बदसूलकी की थी, फिर फराह फैज के साथ मारपीट की. #MaulanaSlapsWoman pic.twitter.com/8BbcadxeNs

— ZEE HINDUSTAN (@Zee_Hindustan) July 17, 2018

Last year, the top court declared that the practice was unconstitutional.