In his just-published book ‘Sunrise Over Ayodhya’, senior Congress leader and former union minister Salman Khurshid compared Hinduism and Hindutva to terrorist organizations ISIS/Boko Haram.
A court in Lucknow Wednesday (December 22) ordered FIR against senior Congress leader and former Union minister Salman Khurshid. The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shantanu Tyagi took cognizance of one Shubhangi Tiwari’s complaint and ordered the Bakshi-ka-Talab Police Station in-Charge to lodge the FIR under relevant sections and complete the investigation. The magistrate also asked for a copy of the FIR within three days.
“From a perusal of the application and the arguments raised in its support, I am of the opinion that cognizable offenses are made out against Salman Khurshid,” the magistrate said in his order. Earlier, complainant Shubhangi Tiwari had filed a complaint in the police station, but the police refused to lodge the FIR. So, the complainant moved the application under Section 156 (3) of the CrPC.
Later, in an interview with India Today TV, Khurshid said that he had no regrets writing the paragraph where he compared Hindutva with ISIS/Boko Haram. In the book, published by Penguin India, Khurshid has written, “Sanatan dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints were being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years.”
Earlier, in November this year, the Delhi High Court had refused to ban the book. While dismissing the petition, Justice Yashwant Varma had said, “Ask people not to buy the book or read it… Tell everyone the book is badly authored. Ask them to read something better. What can we do if people are so sensitive? Nobody has asked them to read it.”
Inputs: Organiser
