Yoga guru Ramdev was on Sunday booked for allegedly promoting enmity and outraging religious feelings after he made derogatory remarks about Muslims in Rajasthan on February 2, PTI reported.
According to the police, a first information report was filed against him in Barmer over a complaint filed by a resident named Pathai Khan.
On February 2, Ramdev, while attending a congregation of seers in Barmer, had claimed that Muslims believe offering prayers redeems them from all sins and this leads them to terrorism and crime.
“Because that’s what they have been taught...just pray, do whatever else you want to do,” he says. “They became terrorists, and a lot of them become criminals.”
He had added: “Ask a Muslim what your religion says, they will say that read namaaz five times [a day] and then do whatever comes to mind. Whether you kidnap Hindu girls, do whatever sin you want to commit.”
Ramdev had also drawn a parallel with Christians saying they get forgiveness for all their sins by attending church and lighting candles.
In his complaint, Khan claimed that Ramdev made the remarks intentionally to create a feeling of enmity and hatred against Islam, adding that the statements have hurt the sentiments of Muslims, reported The Indian Express.
On Sunday, the Rajasthan Police said that Ramdev has been booked under Sections 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 298 (uttering, words, etc, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code.
Previous controversies
In November, Ramdev had made sexist remarks at an event in Maharashtra, saying that women look good in any clothing and even if they wear nothing.
The yoga guru is also facing a case in the Supreme Court for derogatory remarks about allopathy and doctors who practice the medical system.
In May 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic, Ramdev had said: “Lakhs of people have died because of allopathic medicines, far more than those who died because they did not get treatment or oxygen.”
In another video, Ramdev had falsely claimed that 1,000 doctors had died even after getting two doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Later, he apologised once former Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan asked him to withdraw his comments.
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