The Campaign Against Hate Speech (CAHS) has submitted a complaint to the Director-General of Police at Bengaluru, requesting registration of FIR and criminal action against Sri Rama Sena Founder, Pramod Muthalik on Tuesday, over his communally charged remarks against the Christian community.
In a speech made on 25th November 2021 in Vijaypura Muthalik is seen making incendiary remarks against Christians, which CAHS says ‘were in gross violation of the law,’ in its complaint. The video was aired by TV9 Kannada.
Accusing the community of running mass-scale conversions, Muthalik warns of using violence against the community. “In a meeting of Sri Ram Sena, that he was chairing, Pramod Muthalik openly threatened Fathers and Nuns of the Christian faith to not practice their religion,” the complaint states.
“Shut your mouth and do your prayers in your church, don’t go outside from village to village, home to home to do conversions. No. There is no opportunity for this. In future, I’m warning that we will have to fight ferociously against this,” Muthalik says in his speech.
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CAHS has demanded cases to be filed against Muthalik under Sections 153A, 153B, 295A, 298, and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 for disrupting communal harmony, inciting hatred, and discrimination against the minority community.
The collective categorized Muthalik’s speech as both cognizable and non-bailable offences per Schedule I of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, per the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, and sought for immediate registration of FIRs against the accused under Sections 153A, 153B, 295A, 298, and 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and demanded his arrest.
“He is portraying the Christian community as enemies against Hindus. He is even openly threatening the members of the Christian community with physical assault. He is seeking to create ill-will and hatred against Christians, ostracize them, promote enmity against them and remove them from the nation,” the complaint stated.
CAHS reinterred that if statements such as those made by Muthalik were to be left unpunished, it would undermine the secular fabric of the Indian Constitution and severely strain the quality of equality enshrined in Article 14.
“These statements, which effectively deny equal citizenship to religious communities, are in gross violation of the anti-discrimination principle underpinning our Constitution. Every person has the right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution, which includes in its fold the right to live free from fear. In order to protect these core values of our Constitution, and to ensure that religious communities are not subjected to hate speech and denial of citizenship, we urge you to take urgent action in this regard,” CAHS elaborated in the letter.
Campaign Against Hate Speech (CAHS), formed in February 2020, has been tracking and recording hate speech in the media which has been targeting marginalised communities. It has taken its findings to a number of regulatory bodies in the media such as the NBSA and Press Council of India. The collective has made complaints against media publications and channels for their violation of media-related laws and guidelines, in their agendas of propagating hate towards marginalised communities.
