New Delhi: A complaint against Bihar Education Minister Chandrashekar for his recent comments disparaging the Hindu holy book Ramcharitmanas was lodged with Delhi Police on Thursday by a Delhi-based lawyer who practises in the Supreme Court of India.
The complainant seeks direction to lodge FIR against him and take strict legal action.
The lawyer stated in his complaint that Minister of Education for the state of Bihar Chandershekar had committed an offence under sections 153A and B, 295, 298 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), all of which are cognizable offences and very serious in nature.
In his case, advocate Vineet Jindal claimed that the Minister had made a "provocative, offensive, disparaging, and inciting statement" about the Ramcharitmanas (which has been read with faith by Hindus) with the intention of offending Hindus.
Recently, the complainant watched a video and read news articles in which Chandrashekar said, “The three books, Manusmriti, Ramcharitmanas, and Bunch of Thoughts have been spreading caste-related hatred in different eras,” as stated in the complaint.
Jindal also claimed that during the speech event, Chandrashekhar said that books like Manusmriti, Ramcharitmanas by Tulsidas, and Bunch of Thoughts by Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar contributed to keeping 85% of the country's population in a backwards state. “He claimed that while Manusmriti abuses lower castes, Ramcharitmanas advocates keeping lower caste people illiterate,” he said in his complaint.
The complaint was transferred to the Delhi Police Department's Cyber Crime Unit and the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP).
The Education Minister of Bihar allegedly went on to say that Ramcharitmanas should be burned because they discourage the education of Dalits, members of lower castes, and women.
“By these words against Ramcharitmanas, a holy book for all Hindus, he is targeting the Hindu community with the intent to divide and incite hated by using derogatory words for holy books. The contents of the statement made by him clearly show his intent of instigating enmity between two groups on the grounds of caste and he also made inciting statements against the Hindu community. Being Hindu by religion, my religious sentiments are deeply hurt by the statement given by Chandershekar,” the complainant said.
