The Madhya Pradesh Police have formed teams to arrest the author of a book against whom a case was filed last week, the state home minister said on Tuesday.
The minister, Narottam Mishra, was referring to Farhat Khan, who wrote the book Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System. The book was published by Amar Law Publications.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has claimed that the book contains objectionable content about Hindus and the outfit, PTI reported.
“Police teams have been formed to arrest the author and publisher of the book,” Mishra told reporters. “They will be arrested.”
The state home minister also said that he will write to the department that awarded Khan her doctorate to withdraw the degree.
Last week, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members protested at the Government New Law College in Indore, claiming that the book was being taught to students for the past five years. The student outfit alleged that the book promotes religious bigotry.
The first information report was filed on December 3 based on a complaint by a student of the college, according to PTI. Apart from the author and publisher, the police have booked the principal of the college, Inam Ur Rahman and a professor named Mirza Mojiz Baig.
The case has been filed under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code.
Dipendra Singh Thakur, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s college unit president said that the institute removed the book from the library after the protest, according to PTI.
Hitesh Khetrapal, a representative of Amar Law Publications, said that the first edition of the book had been published in 2015. “When we came to know about its controversial parts in 2021, we discussed it with its author Dr Farhat Khan and got the related pages of the book changed,” he said.
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