Two held over hate slogans at PFI rally in Kerala
Police booked a case in the matter on Monday evening after widespread outrage from church authorities and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party
Thiruvananthapuram: Two people were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the inflammatory slogans raised by a boy at a Popular Front of India (PFI) rally in Alappuzha on May 21, police said.
The incident came to light after video clips showed the boy sitting on the shoulders of a man and chanting slogans at the PFI’s Save the Republic rally. In the clip, the boy can be heard issuing veiled threats to Hindu and Christian communities. HT could not verify the authenticity of the video clip.
Police booked a case in the matter on Monday evening after widespread outrage from church authorities and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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Charges under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 505 (1) (b) (act against the public tranquillity), 505 (1) (c), 505 (2), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and 120 (o) of the Kerala Police Act are included in the first information report.
Those arrested were identified by police as Ansar Najeeb, a native of Erttuapetta and PFI’s Alappuzha unit president, Navas Wandan. PFI secretary M Mujeeb will also be made accused in the case, a police officer familiar with the case said, seeking anonymity. Parents of the boy will also be booked, he said.
“We are looking into the compliant in detail and more arrests will be there,” said G Jaidev, Alappuzha’s superintendent of police.
The state child welfare commission has also sought a report from Jaidev regarding the incident.
The PFI has distanced itself from the issue, saying the boy’s slogans were not part of the prepared text and that they would look into the matter.
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“We have given a prepared text of slogans. These were out of the text. We will look into it,” PFI state secretary C A Rouf said on Tuesday.
The BJP and Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference of India (KCBCI) slammed the PFI over the incident.
The BJP said the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) will react only after the bypoll in Thrikkakara on May 31 and that the incident was another example of the “appeasement politics of the left parties.”
“It seems the government is scared of PFI,” party general secretary V Sandeep said.
The church also came down heavily on the PFI and police. “An innocent child will not raise such poisonous slogans. He might have been trained to use such words. People around him were seen praising him,” a KCBCI spokesman said. “Such slogans will only widen the gap between communities, and they are not in tune with the secular fabric of the country.”
