BJP youth wing leader booked for hate post on Bemetara violence

On April 18, the majority Hindu community members from the village clashed with minority Muslims, leading to the death of a 23-year-old person, Bhuneshwar Sahu.

Sahu’s death led to massive protests by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) unofficially backed by the BJP. Days later, a father-son duo from the minority community in the village were murdered in a retaliatory killing.

Shubhankar Dwivedi is the mandal president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in Raipur, the police said.

“Based on our investigation on a complaint of hate speech related to the Biranpur incident, we registered an FIR against Dwivedi on Friday for disturbing communal harmony,” said Prashant Agarwal, Senior Superintendent, Raipur district.

Another official said, “Shubhankar Dwivedi posted a video of a house burning related to the Biranpur incident on his social media page with the caption ‘Relaxing anger in the heart of Bemetara’.”

An FIR has been registered under section 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) and section 505 (2) (public mischief with with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity) of the Indian Penal Code.

Apart from Dwivedi, eight other BJP functionaries have been served notices this week for posting alleged hate comments on social media, including on an official social media handle of the party.

In the election year, the communal violence incidents rocked Chhattisgarh with three murders in as many days, raising questions on the law and order situation in the tribal state.