FIR lodged against poet Munawwar Rana for comparing Valmiki to Taliban

One PL Bharti lodged a complaint saying that Rana hurt feelings of Dalits by comparing Taliban with Valmiki, and also hurt the feelings of Hindus.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against poet Munawwar Rana Friday for allegedly inciting religious feelings by comparing Valmiki, who wrote Ramayana, with Taliban, police said.

Last year, an FIR was filed against poet Munawwar Rana on similar charges after he allegedly defended the killings in France over a caricature of Prophet Muhammad. (Amit K Jaiswal/ Hindustan Times)

"[The] FIR has been registered against Rana on complaint of one PL Bharti, who alleged that he hurt religious feelings by comparing Valmiki with Talilban," a senior official said here.

Bharti in his complaint alleged that Rana, in his statement, hurt feelings of Dalits by comparing Taliban with Valmiki and hurt feelings of Hindus.

Rana while talking to a channel had said: “Valmiki became a God after he wrote the Ramayana, before that he was a dacoit. A person's character can change. Similarly, the Taliban, for now, are terrorists but people and characters change."

“When you talk about Valmiki, you will have to talk about his past. In your religion, you make anyone god. But he was a writer and he wrote the Ramayana, but we are not in competition here,” Rana had said.

The FIR was registered at Hazratganj police station under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc.), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 505(1)(B) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and the SC/ST atrocities prevention act.

Last year, An FIR was registered against the poet in November at the Hazratganj police station on similar charges for allegedly defending the killings in France over a caricature of Prophet Muhammad.