Bengaluru: Kannada actor Chethan Kumar, who is also a Dalit activist, was taken into police custody on Tuesday after a member of a pro-Hindu group complained against his tweet on March 20, where he alleged that 'Hindutva is built on lies'.
The Bengaluru police have charged Chethan, known as Chethan Ahimsa, under IPC sections 295A (malicious intent to outrage religious sentiment) and 505(2) for the tweet. The FIR has described the tweet as a threat to the religious sentiments of the majority of Hindus and creating animosity between caste groups.
Chethan’s tweet read:
Hindutva is built on LIES
Savarkar: Indian ‘nation’ began when Rama defeated Ravana & returned to Ayodhya —> a lie
1992: Babri Masjid is ‘birthplace of Rama’ —> a lie
2023: Urigowda-Nanjegowda are ‘killers’ of Tipu—> a lie
Hindutva can be defeated by TRUTH—> truth is EQUALITY
— Chetan Kumar Ahimsa / ಚೇತನ್ ಅಹಿಂಸಾ (@ChetanAhimsa) March 20, 2023
In February 2022, Chethan, a US citizen and a Fulbright scholar, was arrested for criticizing Justice Krishna Dixit, a Supreme Court judge who was hearing pleas regarding the ban on Muslim girls wearing hijabs in schools in Karnataka.
Chethan's comments were in reference to a 2020 order by Justice Dixit, in which the judge had made regressive comments questioning the behaviour of a woman who had alleged rape.
Justice Dixit's comments were later deleted from the order following public outrage. Chethan is a Dalit rights activist who has participated in numerous anti-right-wing protests in Karnataka.