A PIL was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking action against actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan over his recent statement terming Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as the first Hindu terrorist of independent India.
A criminal complaint has been filed in a Delhi’s Patiala House Court against @ikamalhaasan for allegedly ‘hurting religious sentiments of Hindus by associating terrorism with Hindu religion in Tamil Nadu on May 12’. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/nRaPJqoCve
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) May 14, 2019
BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who filed the PIL, has also filed a complaint against Haasan with the poll panel and requested it to ban him from campaigning for five days.
According to Upadhyay, who urged the court to direct the Election Commission to restrict the misuse of religion for poll gains, the Tamil mega-star made the statement deliberately in the presence of a Muslim majority crowd for electoral gain.
“Haasan has violated the Model Code of Conduct in addition to section 123(3) of the RPA 1951. He is deliberately promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and brotherhood, which is an offence under section 153A of the IPC. It is a deliberate and malicious act, intended to outrage religious feelings of millions of Hindus, which is an offence under section 295A IPC,” Upadhyay said in his petition.
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While campaigning in the town of Aravakurichi in Tamil Nadu’s Karur district on Sunday night (May 12), Haasan said, “I am not saying this because this is a Muslim-dominated area, but I am saying this before a statue of Gandhi. First terrorist in independent India is a Hindu, his name is Nathuram Godse.”
In his plea, Upadhyay said the poll watchdog is yet to take action against Haasan. Therefore, he has moved the court, seeking direction to the EC to order an investigation into the misuse of religion, race, caste, community and language by candidates and political office-bearers for electoral gain.