Journalism of Courage
A criminal case was filed against self-styled ‘godwoman’ Sukhwinder Kaur alias Radhe Maa in a Ludhiana court on Friday for ‘hurting the religious sentiments of people.’
The complainants Ashwani Kumar and Dheeraj Sharma have alleged that the woman is ‘hurting the religious sentiments of people’ and that she cannot use the word ‘Maa’ in her name as it is too sacred and pious.
The case has been filed under sections 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult religion), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 298 ( uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) of IPC. Chief judicial magistrate Rajeev Kumar accepting the plea has ordered its hearing on August 18.
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“This woman cannot use the word Mother or Maa with her name showing that she is at par with goddesses. She has no right to spread misconceptions in society about Hindu religion and further details of case would be made public once hearing takes place on August 18,” said Ashwani Kumar.
The complaints further say that ‘people worship Goddesses like Vaishno Devi, Chintpurni devi, Jwala Devi etc and Radhey Maa has no right to call herself an incarnation of Maa Durga’ and that ‘by wearing mini skirts and then comparing herself to Hindu Goddesses she has hurt the sentiments of the masses.’
“The summons would be issued to Sukhwinder Kaur by the court most probably on August 18 if court finds the facts presented by the NGO (Raksha Jyoti Foundation) worthy,” said an advocate.
