Udhayanidhi Stalin, Priyank Kharge booked in UP over ‘Sanatan Dharma’ remark
text_fields
Rampur: Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday said that an FIR was registered against Tamil Nadu Sports Minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin, and Congress leader and Karnataka IT minister Priyank Kharge for allegedly outraging religious feelings.
According to the police, Udhayanidhi was booked for his call to eradicate Sanatan Dharma, while Kharge was booked for backing his remark.
The two were charged under sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts to outrage religious feelings) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different religious groups) of the IPC at Civil Lines Police Station on Tuesday.
Udhayanidhi had on Saturday during an event in Tamil Nadu compared the Sanatan Dharma with diseases like dengue and malaria.
His comments sparked a backlash from political parties, with BJP insisting on the Congress to condemn his remarks.
Supporting the DMK leader's remark, Priyank said, “Any religion that does not promote equality and does not ensure that you have the dignity of being a human is not a religion, according to me”.
The FIR came at the complaint of lawyers Harsh Gupta and Ram Singh Lodhi who highlighted media reports on Udhayanidhi’s statement alleging that the politician’s comments had hurt their feelings.
With PTI inputs