Congress leader booked for wiping Rajiv Gandhi’s statue with his turban cloth

Nearly 10 months after a statue of former PM Rajiv Gandhi was set on fire by two men in July last year at a public park in Ludhiana, the police booked a Congress leader for hurting the religious sentiments by ‘cleaning the statue with his turban cloth’.

On July 7 last year, two people including a Nihang Sikh were arrested after a statue of Gandhi was set on fire at a public park near Peeru Banda Mohalla in Ludhiana’s Salem Tabri area. Later, local Congress leader Gursimran Singh Mand had reached the spot and wiped the statue with his turban and then poured milk on it, along with his supporters.

Ludhiana police has now booked Mand, who is the joint co-coordinator of Kisan Congress, a wing of All India Congress Committee.

An FIR under the section 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs) of IPC has been lodged against him at police station Salem Tabri on the complaint of Manmeet Singh of Dugri area and Kanwarpal Singh, who in their complaint said that Mand cleaning the statue with his dastar (turban) has hurt their religious sentiments.