A magistrate court in Bengaluru on Monday directed the police to probe hate speech made by Chandru Moger, Hindu Janagaruthi Samiti coordinator, as a cognisable offence under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Chandru had made offensive statements against Muslim vendors in Karnataka.
He had accused the Muslim community of monopolising the fruit vending business and of spitting on products as a form of “spitting Jihad”.
The statement irked the citizens who tried to file an FIR against this hate monger but in vain. The Sanjaynagar police had only registered a non-cognisable report against him on the complaint.
However, after 12 days, the Bengaluru’s Magistrate court directed the Sanjaynagar police to investigate the allegations of hate speech against Chandru.
Activists who took the issue to the court said the police could not follow the procedures due to political pressure.
Khizer-e-Alam, Waseem Raja, and Zia Nomani, among others, attempted to register an official FIR against him. Nomani, who is also a spokesperson of AIMIM, Bengaluru, told The Wire that when the police failed to act against Moger on its own, they had complained to him at the Sanjay Nagar police station on April 6. In this, they demanded the registration of an FIR against the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti coordinator for maligning a community and invoking “communal hate and violence”.
It is to be noted that the hate monger also called for an economic boycott against Muslim fruit vendors.
“Communalism is a threat to national integrity”, and “comments like these promote religious fundamentalism and fanaticism and are against the unity and integrity of our country”. It had alleged that Moger had made the comments “with a deliberate malicious intention to harm, damage and undermine one particular community and invoke communal hate and violence”, read the complaint.
The complainant also alleged that the commissioner of police, Bengaluru city, did not respond despite being told.
He then took to his Facebook profile and wrote, “(We) have been struggling to file FIR against the person who called to boycott Muslim fruit vendors, accusing them of ‘Spitting Jihad”.
He said they met commissioner Kamal Pant on April 7 afternoon, and he gave them a sealed envelope and directed them to meet the deputy commissioner of police (north), whom they met later that same evening at his Yeshvanthpur office. “The DCP opened the envelope and said, ‘I will examine this. We asked him why an FIR is not lodged, even when the offences are cognisable. He responded, ‘I will examine this, and we will get back,” Nomani wrote—The Wire reported.
He also added that while there were also supposed to meet additional commissioner of police Sandeep Patil on Friday, April 8, as the commissioner had insisted, the meeting did not take place as the officer told him.
“The DCP North is the competent authority, and he reports to the commissioner of police. So be in touch with the DCP North; he will give an update”.
However, unable to register FIR, the activists decided to approach the magistrate court.
Nomani said they filed a petition praying for immediate intervention by the Court of law, directing Bengaluru police to book and investigate the offences committed by the accused on April 13.
“We further prayed that such hate speeches can lead to serious law and order situation, affect the livelihood of Muslim vendors, create an atmosphere of communal hatred to the court”.
In the same matter, the court dismissed the police’s document deeming the incident a non-cognisable event and named it a “cognisable offence under Section 156(3)” of the CrPC.
The petitioners’ statement also said, “will continue to fight such forces of hatred who intend to create an atmosphere of communal tension in the State by targeting the innocent members of the society and putting them at risk of serious attacks”.
Speaking to TheCognate, Nomani said he trusts the court’s order and does not want to comment on it till the police file a charge sheet and file a report in court in the next 90 days.
He also says the court had listed the next hearing as 30th July 2022.
Asked whether the police officials would conduct a fair probe in this regard, he said if the police failed to do their duty and filed a B report, then we would protest against them and will again move to the court. B report means cancellation report, i.e. police have not found evidence against you to file a charge sheet and seek your trial.
Further, he also opined that the state police have become the saffron seed and that the Muslims in Karnataka are at the doorstep of the genocide.
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