The Ernakulam Central police in Kerala have filed an FIR against Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary Anil K. Antony on November 2, 2023 on charge of making communally instigative social media posts in connection with the blasts at a prayer convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Kalamassery in Kochi recently.
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This is the second case to be registered by the Ernakulam Central police against Mr. Chandrasekhar in less than three days in this connection. The police have invoked Section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with an intent to cause riot) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 120 (o) (causing nuisance and violation of public order through any means of communication) of the Kerala Police Act against both the accused.
The case was registered on a petition lodged by Sarin P., convenor, digital media cell of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). According to the FIR, the accused made social media posts aimed at disrupting communal harmony in Kerala and thus instigating riots by linking the Kalamassery blasts with the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
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The first case against Mr. Chandrasekhar was filed on October 31, 2023 immediately after he locked horns with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the Kalamassery blasts.
Mr. Chandrasekhar had posted on X (formerly Twitter) on October 29, 2023 that Kerala was paying the price of “dirty shameless appeasement politics by a discredited Chief Minister (and HM) besieged by corruption charges.”
He went on to add that the Chief Minister was sitting in Delhi and protesting against Israel, when in Kerala, open calls by “terrorist Hamas for jihad are causing attacks and bomb blasts on innocent Christians.” He had alleged that the Kerala government had “rolled out a red carpet for extremist elements in the State”. The State allowed the former chief of the “extremist organisation Hamas” to address the youth of Kerala and “radicalise them”, he alleged.
Sneering at the post, Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Chandrasekhar was “spewing communal venom” at a time when Kerala stood together to face the situation following the bomb blasts. He slammed the Union Minister for what he termed as targeting a segment of Kerala society.