A Dalit man was allegedly forced to rub his nose on a platform inside a temple in Rajasthan's Alwar district after he made insulting remarks on Hindu gods in response to comments on social media for criticising the film 'The Kashmir Files'
The video of the incident has gone viral on social media and the police have registered an FIR against 11 people, out of which two have been arrested.
The incident took place in Gokupura village under Behror police station on Tuesday. The video of the same that went viral on social media showed that the victim, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, is purportedly seen rubbing his nose in a temple under pressure from people present there.
The Circle Officer of Behror police station Anand Kumar said that the victim works in a private bank and had criticised the ‘Kashmir Files’ movie on Facebook three days ago. He had written a post against the movie, which invited critical comments.
In the Facebook post, Meghwal questioned whether atrocities had happened with Pandits only and not with Dalits. He wrote that atrocities are happening with the poor every day and there is nothing for their safety.
Some of the people wrote Jai Shree Ram and Jai Shree Krishna in response to Meghwal’s post on the film. Meghwal reacted to the comments with some derogatory remarks against Gods which provoked people.
Though he apologized on social media for his comments on Hindu gods, some locals forced him to seek an apology in a temple. Later, he was taken to a temple on Tuesday where he sought an apology. Circle Officer (CO) said, “Some of the people present there forced him to rub in the nose in the temple and he followed it.”
CO told that an FIR was registered against 11 persons on Tuesday night and two of them have been arrested. Some other people have also been rounded up for harassing the Dalit man.
In the meantime after the uproar in the Rajasthan assembly and wide criticism on social media the district administration of Kota in Rajasthan has clarified that no prohibitory orders will be imposed on the screening of the film ‘The Kashmir Files’.
This information was given by the Speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly CP Joshi in the house on Wednesday. He also shared the information that there will be no ban on the peaceful celebration of festivals in the district during the period of prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC.
Notably, the Kota district administration had issued an order on Monday imposing section 144 for a month in view of maintaining law and order looking at the screening of the said film and coming festivals.
The order said “Looking at the communally sensitive festivals like Chetichand, Mahaveer Jayanti, Good Friday, Baisakhi and Jamatulvida and screening of the film ‘The Kashmir Files, it is necessary to impose section 144 of CrPC to maintain law and order to stop gatherings of the people, agitations, meetings and processions,” said the order issued by the district collector of Kota. The order will remain effective till midnight on April 21.
The assembly witnessed uproar on this issue and the order was widely criticized on social media also. The director of the movie, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri took to social media, saying the strength of terrorists is that they create fear and we get afraid. In his tweet tagging union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Agnihotri said, “Dear Anurag Thakur (Union IB Minister), if the film on right to justice is sabotaged by the state in a democracy, what we should think of justice? Dear Ashok Gehlot, only strength of terrorists is that they create fear and we get afraid. Dear ‘The Kashmir Files’ viewers, it’s your time for justice.”
