The Mumbai police late on Friday night registered a first information report (FIR) against senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and MLA Jitendra Awhad for his alleged objectionable remarks on Lord Ram. The FIR was lodged after Gautam Ravriya, a Bajrang Dal coordinator, filed a complaint at the MIDC police station. A second FIR was filed against Awhad at the Ghatkopar police station for his remarks on Lord Ram by BJP MLA Ramchandra Kadam on Saturday evening. Ravriya's FIR, which stated that he saw Awhad's speech live on a TV news channel. said, “Awhad, who is from NCP’s Sharad Pawar faction, has made objectionable remark on Lord Ram and hurt my and people’s religious sentiments." Awhad has been booked under Section 295 (a) of the Indian Penal Code on charges of hurting the religious sentiments of a community. On January 3, Awhad addressed party workers at the NCP’s study camp in Shirdi and reportedly said that Lord Ram “was a king of Bahujans and a non-vegetarian”. “We do not read history and forget everything in politics. Ram is ours… of us Bahujans, who used to hunt to eat. Ram was never a vegetarian. He was a non-vegetarian. How can a man who lived in the jungle for 14 years remain vegetarian?” Awhad had said. After his statement kicked off a row in the state, Awhad expressed regret over his statement on January 4 but did not withdraw it, pointing out that his reference was from Valmiki Ramayan. Recently, the Pune police too had registered an FIR against Awhad for the same speech. In the Pune police FIR, the complainant BJP leader claimed the NCP MLA had hurt the sentiments of Hindus at a time when preparations are underway for the Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya on January 22.
