Vishwa Hindu Parishad international general secretary Pravin Togadia on Saturday filed a police complaint against Zakia Jaffrey, wife of the slain former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffrey, and her son Tanvir Jaffrey for “attempting to create communal hatred and endangering peace in Gujarat.”
Mr. Togadia came to the Ellisbridge police station with a large number of VHP supporters and registered the complaint. Mr. Togadia's complaint was in retaliation to the one lodged by Mr. Tanvir Jaffrey with Director-General of Police S.S. Khandwawala against him for “threatening” his 76-year-old mother (Ms. Zakia Jaffrey) and Mumbai-based Citizens for Justice and Peace general secretary Teesta Setalvad.
The reason for Mr. Jaffrey's complaint was the statement Mr. Togadia made after he responded to a summons by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team in Gandhinagar on May 10. As the SIT was constituted on a petition filed in the Supreme Court by Ms. Zakia Jaffrey, Mr. Togadia had stated that he would “teach Ms. Jaffrey and Ms. Setalvad a lesson at an appropriate time.”
After filing the complaint, Mr. Togadia told journalists that he suspected that the Jaffreys were trying to “provoke communal violence” in the State. Recalling the May 10 incident, Mr. Togadia said he was summoned by the SIT because of a “false complaint” by Ms. Jaffrey. “I had then said [that] at an appropriate time I will take an appropriate action against them. This is my democratic and legal right.”
In his complaint, he had sought to know “when, where and how he had threatened her.” He said the Jaffreys “should be arrested for conspiring to provoke communal violence.” The police, however, said that from the complaint filed by Mr. Togadia, only one charge that could be labelled against Mr. Tanvir Jaffrey was that of defamation. “During the course of the investigation if we find any other charge valid, those clauses will be added to the complaint later,” the police said.
