An FIR has been registered against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after a complaint alleged that he gave a casteist spin to a religious ritual held at the venue of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's programme in Uttarakhand's Haldwani, police said on Sunday.
Police said the case has been filed under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to promoting enmity between groups and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings. Provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, have also been invoked.
The complaint was filed by Amit Kumar, a resident of Jawahar Nagar and a member of Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas. He said he was present during the "ritual and cleanliness drive" and that remarks made by Gandhi at a press conference in Delhi on August 29 hurt the sentiments of the Valmiki community. Kumar accused Gandhi of portraying those associated with the ritual as practising "untouchability" and being "anti-Dalit".
In his complaint, Kumar said he belongs to the Scheduled Caste community and that people from different sections of society, including Scheduled Castes, took part in the ritual. He said the event had "no connection" with Kharge's caste.
A political row had broken out after some people allegedly performed a "purification yajna" at the Ramlila Ground in Haldwani on August 11, days after a public meeting addressed there by Kharge on August 8.
The Congress called the incident a reflection of the BJP's anti-Dalit mindset. The BJP defended the action, saying the venue had been left littered after Kharge's rally and that slogans raised there were inappropriate for a religious site.
At a press conference in 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 later backed the demand, calling the incident a "reprehensible and shameful mindset" and alleging that it amounted to a violation of the SC/ST Act.
Source: India Today
