A case was registered against 50 unidentified people in Indore for protesting against the arrest of Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj, PTI reported, citing police officials.
Kalicharan was arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police on December 30 from Madhya Pradesh after he insulted Mahatma Gandhi and praised his assassin Nathuram Godse at a Hindutva event held in Raipur earlier in the month.
A court in Raipur on Monday rejected Kalicharan’s bail plea, reported ANI.
On Monday, Indore’s Choti Gwaltoli police station in charge Savita Choudhary said that some 50 unidentified members of Hindutva groups Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha and Bajrang Sena had staged a protest and shouted slogans a day earlier at the Regal Square without the administration’s permission.
Choudhary said that the group had then marched to the police commissionerate and submitted a memorandum on Kalicharan’s arrest.
She said that a prohibitory order issued by the district collector does not allow rallies, processions and dharnas to be held in public places without the prior permission of the administration.
“An FIR [first information report] has been registered against the protestors for violation of this order under Indian Penal Code section 188 [disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant],” the officer said.
Choudhary, however, said she was not aware if the protestors shouted slogans praising Godse.
Watch: Protestors against Kalicharan’s arrest shout ‘long live Nathuram Godse’ in Gurugram
Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Aminul Khan Suri shared a video of the protest, in which slogans praising Godse could be heard. Suri alleged that the police were mute spectators, and asked Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra and Indore Police Commissioner Harinarayanachari Mishra to comment on it.
In another video shared by Suri, a member of the Hindutva groups could be heard reading the memorandum that said they support Kalicharan’s statement. The memorandum also alleged that Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel abuses Hindu gods and the Congress is anti-Hindu.
A first information report was filed against Kalicharan at Tikrapara police station on December 26 based on the complaint of Congress leader Pramod Dubey.
In a widely shared video on social media, Kalicharan can be seen using an expletive about Gandhi and accusing him of destroying the country at the Raipur event.
“I pay my obeisance to Nathuram Godse,” Kalicharan had said at a “dharam sansad” or religious parliament in Raipur. “He killed him [Gandhi]...See, it is essential to remove a wart by surgery, or else it could lead to cancer.”
More than 20 religious leaders attended the two-day “dharam sansad” event over the weekend. Many of them reportedly called upon Hindus to take up weapons and prepare themselves for the establishment of a Hindu nation.
The event in Chhattisgarh followed a similar conclave in Haridwar from December 17 to 19 at which religious leaders had called for Hindus to buy weapons to kill India’s Muslims.
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By arresting Kalicharan for ‘insulting Gandhi’, we encourage the uncritical veneration of our icons
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