The pleas of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and its leader Praveen Togadia have been dismissed. The Karnataka High Court on Friday upheld Bengaluru City Police’s order preventing Togadia’s entry into the city between February 5 and 11. The VHP chief was scheduled to attend and address the Virat Hindu Samajotsava in Bengaluru on Sunday.
The judge clarified that Togadia had been prevented from entering the city but nothing stopped the samajotsava from taking place or for Togadia to address participants via videoconference.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner MN Reddi’s order banning Togadia said that “provocative and inflammatory speeches of Shri Praveen Togadia to which he is habitually inclined would have sufficiently grave consequences” and that “there is every likelihood of disturbance to public tranquility and communal harmony in Bengaluru City” if such a speech is not prevented.
The police’s preventive action has been taken also because of the worry that Asaduddin Owaisi, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party, was scheduled to speak in Bengaluru on the same day. Both the police and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have announced that neither Togadia nor Owaisi will be allowed to enter the city.
Mangalore violence
Karnataka BJP leaders staged a walkout in the state Assembly on Wednesday over the ban and called the Congress government anti-Hindu and anti-majority. They might be forgetting the very recent outbreak of violence near Mangaluru soon after Togadia addressed a Virat Hindu Hridaya Sangama meeting there.
At least 30 people in two taluks near Mangaluru were reportedly injured on January 17 when Hindus returning from the meeting clashed with Muslims. Three hundred Hindu activists allegedly attacked a mosque and its priest. Police lodged a complaint of rioting and are investigating allegations that inflammatory speeches were made by Togadia and other Hindu leaders at the venue.
FIR in West Bengal
In late December, the police in West Bengal lodged a First Information Report against Togadia, charging him with delivering a communal speech in Rampurhat village in Birbhum district. The speech was given at a “ghar wapasi” function, where 17 Christian and two Muslim families were reportedly converted to Hinduism.
Absconder in Kasargod case
The VHP has slammed the Bengaluru police, saying that the ban against Togadia has been ordered on the basis of old cases in which Togadia has not been found guilty. But as recently as December, the first class court in Kasargod had declared Togadia an absconder in a case registered against him for making a “hate speech” in 2011. In November, the Oomen Chandy government in Kerala had come under severe criticism from the opposition for dropping a case against the VHP president for another hate speech he had made in Kozhikode in 2003.
Pre-election advice to evict Muslims
In April 2014, Togadia allegedly exhorted his supporters at a rally in Bhavnagar to evict Muslims living in Hindu-majority areas by hanging “Bajrang Dal” signs outside their houses, giving the residents 48 hours to vacate and storming the premises if they failed to do so. The incident earned Togadia yet another FIR, although he denied the remarks.
Togadia has in the past held the record for the maximum number of complaints and criminal cases for making objectionable speeches. Till August 2013, 19 cases had been registered against him, of which 15 had been filed in the three preceding years. By the looks of it, he might continue to hold this record.
The judge clarified that Togadia had been prevented from entering the city but nothing stopped the samajotsava from taking place or for Togadia to address participants via videoconference.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner MN Reddi’s order banning Togadia said that “provocative and inflammatory speeches of Shri Praveen Togadia to which he is habitually inclined would have sufficiently grave consequences” and that “there is every likelihood of disturbance to public tranquility and communal harmony in Bengaluru City” if such a speech is not prevented.
The police’s preventive action has been taken also because of the worry that Asaduddin Owaisi, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party, was scheduled to speak in Bengaluru on the same day. Both the police and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have announced that neither Togadia nor Owaisi will be allowed to enter the city.
Mangalore violence
Karnataka BJP leaders staged a walkout in the state Assembly on Wednesday over the ban and called the Congress government anti-Hindu and anti-majority. They might be forgetting the very recent outbreak of violence near Mangaluru soon after Togadia addressed a Virat Hindu Hridaya Sangama meeting there.
At least 30 people in two taluks near Mangaluru were reportedly injured on January 17 when Hindus returning from the meeting clashed with Muslims. Three hundred Hindu activists allegedly attacked a mosque and its priest. Police lodged a complaint of rioting and are investigating allegations that inflammatory speeches were made by Togadia and other Hindu leaders at the venue.
FIR in West Bengal
In late December, the police in West Bengal lodged a First Information Report against Togadia, charging him with delivering a communal speech in Rampurhat village in Birbhum district. The speech was given at a “ghar wapasi” function, where 17 Christian and two Muslim families were reportedly converted to Hinduism.
Absconder in Kasargod case
The VHP has slammed the Bengaluru police, saying that the ban against Togadia has been ordered on the basis of old cases in which Togadia has not been found guilty. But as recently as December, the first class court in Kasargod had declared Togadia an absconder in a case registered against him for making a “hate speech” in 2011. In November, the Oomen Chandy government in Kerala had come under severe criticism from the opposition for dropping a case against the VHP president for another hate speech he had made in Kozhikode in 2003.
Pre-election advice to evict Muslims
In April 2014, Togadia allegedly exhorted his supporters at a rally in Bhavnagar to evict Muslims living in Hindu-majority areas by hanging “Bajrang Dal” signs outside their houses, giving the residents 48 hours to vacate and storming the premises if they failed to do so. The incident earned Togadia yet another FIR, although he denied the remarks.
Togadia has in the past held the record for the maximum number of complaints and criminal cases for making objectionable speeches. Till August 2013, 19 cases had been registered against him, of which 15 had been filed in the three preceding years. By the looks of it, he might continue to hold this record.
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