Mallikarjun Kharge ‘shuddhikaran’ row: Month later, Uttarakhand police file FIR

He said, “We were conducting a legal review of all these applications. During this legal scrutiny, we learned that Anju had been the first to lodge a formal written complaint at the Haldwani Kotwali police station; she had also provided relevant videos to the Station House Officer and other officials.”

He said, “Consequently, based on her formal complaint, we have registered an FIR against unknown persons under Sections 196 and 299 of the IPC and Section 3(1)(r) of the SC/ST Act.”

The FIR invokes Section 3(1)(r) of the SC/ST Act for caste-based insult/humiliation, and Sections 196 and 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for promoting enmity between groups and deliberately outraging religious feelings.

The FIR does not name any accused.

Dalit MPs march to police station in Delhi

Meanwhile, in Delhi, a group of Dalit Congress MPs and leaders reached the Parliament Street police station, seeking an FIR in the matter.

Congress leader and national coordinator for the SC, OBC, Minority and Adivasi Departments K Raju said that the group of MPs, comprising 20 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, reached the police station to file an FIR “against an act of untouchability” committed against the Congress chief. “Even after two hours of persuasion by the MPs, the SHO refused to register zero FIR. If this is what is happening to SC and ST MPs, one can imagine the plight of ordinary SC/ST citizens…,” said Raju.

Pointing out that a stage in Haldwani was “purified” after Kharge spoke on it, Congress Parliamentarian Sasikanth Senthil said, “That is untouchability. It is a crime under the law. An FIR against Rahul Gandhi took one day. Against the men who did this? One month and nothing.”

Last month, an FIR was lodged against the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha for allegedly giving the issue a caste angle. The FIR was registered against Gandhi based on a complaint by a resident of Haldwani who claimed he was a member of the Valmiki community. He said that he, along with other SC community members, had participated in the “cleanliness drive and religious ritual” at Ramlila Maidan, adding the act had no connection with any individual or caste.

Meanwhile, the complaint by activist Anju alleged that after Kharge addressed the rally on August 8, some BJP-linked persons and leaders had the venue “purified” on August 10 and circulated photographs and videos of the same on social media.

“It is particularly noteworthy that Shri Mallikarjun Kharge is a person belonging to the Scheduled Caste category,” the complaint said.

It said that, in these circumstances, having the venue “purified” after his programme “prima facie appears to be an act intended to create caste discrimination, social insult and hatred and feelings of inferiority towards a person belonging to the Scheduled Caste.”

The complaint also asked the police to investigate a separate video circulated on social media, describing it as “misleading, objectionable and possibly edited”.

It alleged that religious slogans were presented in a controversial manner with an attempt to create “hatred and animosity” towards a particular religious community.

The police action comes nearly a month after the incident, which has triggered a national political dispute.

SSP Manjunath said the investigation would now focus on the allegations contained in the complaint and the material submitted to police. “Considering the sensitivity of the case, we have entrusted the investigation to Jagdish Chandra, a senior officer who was formerly a senior PPS officer and has now been promoted to the IPS cadre,” he added.

“We appeal to all those who have submitted applications…whether in Haldwani or elsewhere in the state…to note that the investigation is currently in progress,” he said.

A day after Kharge’s rally, Haldwani-based Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas organised a cleaning drive and “Shuddhi Yagya” at the Ramlila Maidan. The outfit has denied any connection with a political party and said its objective was to clean the venue and restore what it described as its religious and cultural sanctity.

The Congress has described the ceremony as an act of caste discrimination against Kharge, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has distanced itself from the organisation behind the event.

Kharge, subsequently, raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha and said the alleged purification had made him feel “untouchability” and had humiliated him. He later wrote to BJP leader J P Nadda complaining that no FIR had been registered despite an assurance that the incident would be investigated.