The Kerala Police have registerd a first information report against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member TG Mohandas for saying that he “would have shot” protesters in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar if he had been in charge of law and order, The Hindu reported on Wednesday.
On Monday, the state government had ordered a police investigation into the remarks.
The case was filed by the Thiruvananthapuram City Cyber Police under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to provocation with intent to cause a riot and statements conducing to public mischief, and under provisions of the Information Technology Act and Kerala Police Act.
On Sunday, Mohandas had said in a YouTube video that if he had been tasked with handling the demonstrations, he would have imposed a curfew in the Jantar Mantar area, which is a designated protest site. The RSS member said he would then make three announcements for the crowd to disperse.
“After that, I will shoot,” he was quoted as saying by The Hindu. “People will scatter away and run for their lives. Some may die, some may suffer disabilities. Within four hours, the situation will be calm. Then I will collect the bodies and take them to hospitals.”
The video was posted on his YouTube channel Pathrika a day after Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dharmendra Pradhan resigned as the Union education minister in response to protests against the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations.
In another video, Mohandas was alleged to have said: “Police should be withdrawn from the area, and it should be left to the protesters. Rapes and murders will happen. There will not be complaints about rape, because they like rape.”
The RSS, the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party, distanced itself from Mohandas’ comments on Tuesday. It claimed that Mohandas was not an official of the organisation and that the political commentator’s views had been made in personal capacity.
Nevertheless, the remarks elicited sharp criticism in Kerala across political lines.
The Congress, which leads the state’s coalition government, stated that the “vile statement” by Mohandas was proof of the RSS’ “disgusting, violent and misogynistic mindset”. The RSS “has always provided shelter to such people”, the party alleged.
Left leader and Rajya Sabha MP AA Rahim told The Hindu that Mohandas’s remarks will be “dealt with politically and legally”.
The agitation in Delhi began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Pradhan from his post over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams. Pradhan resigned on Saturday.
On July 20, thousands joined the protest two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.
The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.
Edited by Sara Varghese.
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