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Bengaluru police file FIR against BJP’s Amit Malviya for video on Rahul Gandhi
The FIR was registered on Tuesday by Bengaluru’s High Ground police station on a complaint by Ramesh Babu, co-chairman of the Karnataka Congress’s communications department.
BENGALURU: A first information report (FIR) has been filed against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Malviya for an animated video uploaded on social media on June 17 following a complaint by a Karnataka Congress leader that accused him of promoting enmity and instigating people against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The FIR was registered on Tuesday by Bengaluru’s High Grounds police on a complaint by Ramesh Babu, co-chairman of the Karnataka Congress’s communications department.
BJP leaders slammed the Congress for the FIR, saying it was politically motivated and designed to silence Malviya, who heads the party’s information technology cell.
Malviya hasn’t commented on the FIR but as news of the FIR emerged, the BJP leader retweeted the video.
The video accuses Gandhi of trying to “break India” at the behest of foreign powers. “Rahul Gandhi is dangerous and playing an insidious game…,” the BJP leader tweeted.
In the complaint, Babu said the video tweeted by Malviya would lead to enmity between people and disrupt communal harmony.
“What is shocking is that the video wrongly projects Rahul Gandhi’s conversation with people from the Islamic faith. The lyrics of a movie song used in the video have been changed. This is disrespectful towards Rahul Gandhi,” Babu alleged.
On June 19, Babu and rural development minister Priyank Kharge also filed a complaint against BJP president JP Nadda and the party’s Chandigarh unit chief Arun Sood. The complaint alleged that the BJP leaders were spreading misinformation with the “intention to promote enmity between groups and incite as well as provoke its viewers”.
The FIR only listed Malviya as the accused and was based on a written complaint by Babu.
Malviya has been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The BJP’s Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya said they will challenge the case in court.
“The FIR filed against Sri @amitmalviya is politically motivated. Plain and simple. Case is registered under 153A and 505(2) of IPC for his alleged statement against Rahul Gandhi. Both the above sections deal with promoting enmity between groups. So, what is Rahul Gandhi? An individual or a group or a class. We will challenge this in the court & ensure justice,” Tejasvi Surya said in a tweet.
Kharge said the case was filed after seeking legal opinion. “The BJP always cries foul whenever they are asked to face the law. They have a problem following the law of the land. I want to ask the party which part of the FIR has been filed with a mala fide intention. We have done it after taking legal advice and if they think that it is of wrong intention, face us legally.”
