Court seeks FIR against AAP leader Ashutosh for ‘vulgar’ remarks against Mahatma Gandhi

The order came after a criminal complaint was filed by one Yogender seeking registration of an FIR against the AAP leader.

AAP leader Ashutosh (Files)

“Easy for an attention seeker to stand and point fingers towards the Mahatma; difficult even for a patriotic preacher to rise and achieve greatness like the Mahatma,” a Delhi court said on Monday as it directed police to register an FIR against AAP leader Ashutosh for allegedly making “vulgar comments” against Mahatma Gandhi as well as political leaders.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ekta Gauba said that Ashutosh had tried to “gain public attention” by tarnishing the revered image of Gandhi — in a bid to “settle” political scores. “Thus, I found that in the present case, prima facie there are sufficient grounds for registration of FIR…,” said ACMM Gauba.

The order came after a criminal complaint was filed by one Yogender seeking registration of an FIR against the AAP leader. As per court records, Ashutosh had made the allegations in an open letter — to “save” former AAP minister Sandeep Kumar from “the disgrace of his sex scandal”.

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The complainant alleged that Ashutosh, on February 9, 2016, “demoralised the named respected persons of India”, including Gandhi, by making vulgar comments.

The court said that Article 19 (1)(a) guarantees freedom of speech, but it is barred under article 19(2) if it affects sovereignty and integrity of India, security of state, decency or morality, among others. “Not only are the allegations vulgar and obscene… (they also) tend to deprave and corrupt the minds of readers and young minds who are prone to use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, etc,” the court said.

Regarding the locus standi of the complainant to file a plea, the court said that Gandhi is the father of the nation. “Therefore, not only his great-grandfather has locus standi but the entire nation, that is every citizen, has the locus standi to file a case…,” the court said.

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