Kerala police booked a software engineer on Friday for suggesting in a Facebook post that the rape-cum-murder of a minor in Kathua earlier this year was committed not just by 10 people, but “31% of India’s voters”.
That was the vote share of the BJP in the last general elections.
Police took action against Deepak Sankaranarayanan, who works as a software engineer in Bengaluru, after BJP state media convenor R Sandeep alleged in a complaint that his “hate-filled” post was an open call for violence. He was booked under sections 153 A and B (promoting enmity between different groups and acting against the national interest and creating trouble) of the Indian Penal Code.
Sankaranarayanan alleged in his post that the heinous crime was carried out with the consent of 31% people that constitute the Indian democracy. “Justice should prevail even if it means shooting 31% of the people (this is twice the casualty during the Second World War) who supported Hindutva terrorism. Democracy is for every individual, whatever be the number of people standing against it,” he wrote in his April 12 post.
The post triggered strong protests from several right-wing groups, who also questioned the “double-standards” of the state police. They cited how a police case was immediately registered against a bank manager in Kochi after he put up a controversial social media post stating that “it was better for her (the victim in the Kathua case) to die than become a Pak bomb tomorrow”. The man was later sacked by his employer, the Kotak Mahindra Bank, for justifying the horrifying crime.
{{/usCountry}}The post triggered strong protests from several right-wing groups, who also questioned the “double-standards” of the state police. They cited how a police case was immediately registered against a bank manager in Kochi after he put up a controversial social media post stating that “it was better for her (the victim in the Kathua case) to die than become a Pak bomb tomorrow”. The man was later sacked by his employer, the Kotak Mahindra Bank, for justifying the horrifying crime.
{{/usCountry}}After Sankaranarayanan’s post snowballed into a controversy, he clarified that the post was a call for justice and not violence. “I quoted a Latin phrase that said ‘Let justice be done though the heavens fall’. The maxim signifies the belief that justice must be realised regardless of the consequences,” he said.
Many, including Kerala finance minister Thomas Issac, supported Sankaranarayanan – terming the post as a spontaneous expression of indignation.