Mumbai: The Mira Road police has registered an FIR against activist Kajal Shingala, alias Kajal Hindustani, for a hate speech targeting members of a particular community.
The activist is yet to be arrested, though she gave the speech more than a month ago, on March 12, during the Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha on Mira Road.
Rally against ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad’
The Supreme Court has already warned that nobody can give any hate speech or act in defiance of law and in violation of public order during such rallies. The rally at which Hindustani gave the speech was held in protest against ‘love jihad’ and ‘land jihad’ with the support of the Sakal Hindu Samaj.
The protestors had marched for about 3 km from Golden Nest Circle to SK Stone Junction demanding legislation to deal with love jihad and land jihad to target a particular community.
Promoting enmity and hatred between communities
Hindustani had in her speeches consistently made statements on various communal issues promoting enmity and hatred between communities, according to the FIR.
“Yes, we have booked Kajal Hindustani under sections 153 (a) and 505(2) of the IPC,” said a senior police officer. The sections relate to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, and language and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony. Convictions attract a jail term of three years.
Members of the local unit of the Congress and social activists had registered their protest against the hate speech and had met police commissioner Madhukar Pandey in this regard. They had highlighted the threat such rallies and hate speeches pose to communal harmony and contended that they hurt the religious sentiments of communities that have set an example of living peacefully for several decades in the region.
