Case against Rahul Gandhi over ‘casteist’ remarks in Uttarakhand
An FIR is filed against Rahul Gandhi in Haldwani after a Valmiki community member alleged casteist remarks on a religious ritual, invoking provisions related to promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings.
An FIR is filed against Rahul Gandhi in Haldwani after a Valmiki community member alleged casteist remarks on a religious ritual, invoking provisions related to promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings.
An FIR is filed against Rahul Gandhi in Haldwani after a Valmiki community member alleged casteist remarks on a religious ritual, invoking provisions related to promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings.
Haldwani: An FIR has been registered against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi following a complaint by a member of the Valmiki community in Uttarakhand's Haldwani, who alleged that Gandhi gave a casteist interpretation to a religious ritual held at the venue of a Congress programme, police said on Sunday.
The FIR was registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to promoting enmity between groups and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has also been invoked, police said.
Amit Kumar, a Jawahar Nagar resident and member of the Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas, filed the complaint at Haldwani police station. He said he was present during the "ritual and cleanliness drive" and alleged that Gandhi's remarks at a press conference in Delhi on August 29 had hurt the community's sentiments.
Kumar accused Gandhi of portraying those involved in the ritual as practising "untouchability" and being "anti-Dalit".
In his complaint, Kumar said he belongs to the Scheduled Caste community and claimed that people from different sections of society, including members of Scheduled Castes, had participated in the ritual. He said the ritual had "no connection" with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's caste.
The political row began after some individuals allegedly performed a ‘purification yajna’ at Ramlila Ground in Haldwani on August 11, three days after a public meeting addressed by Kharge there on August 8.
The Congress termed the incident a reflection of the BJP's anti-Dalit mindset, while the BJP defended it, claiming that the venue had been left littered after Kharge's rally and that slogans inappropriate for a religious site had been raised there.
At a press conference in New Delhi on August 29, Gandhi criticised the incident and demanded that an FIR be registered under the SC/ST Act against those responsible for the "purification".
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra subsequently joined the demand for action, describing the incident as a reflection of a "reprehensible and shameful mindset" and alleging that it violated the SC/ST Act.