NEW DELHI, Aug 1: The Varanasi police on Saturday registered a case against the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, the independent MP from Purnea Rajesh Ranjan, popularly known as Pappu Yadav, and Samajwadi Party MP from Faizabad Awadhesh Prasad for allegedly insulting the Sanatan Dharma and hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus by enacting a skit in the Parliament complex on the Ram temple donation fund embezzlement.
The FIR was registered at the Kotwali police station under Sections 299 and 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). According to Gaurav Banswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kashi Zone, the FIR was filed based on a formal complaint submitted at Kotwali police station by some seers alleging that Lok Sabha MPs Rahul Gandhi, Pappu Yadav and Awadhesh Prasad have insulted Sanatan Dharma in Parliament.
The police registered the case around 2 p.m. on Saturday acting on a complaint filed by Jagadguru Balak Das, the head of Patalpuri Math. In the petition, the complainant alleged that deliberate and malicious acts were performed, intended to outrage religious feeling outside the Parliament House in New Delhi.
Seer Jagatguru Balak Das said the manner in which Mr Pappu Yadav insulted Lord Ram and Sanatan Dharma in the House was unforgivable. “No follower of Sanatan Dharma can forget this act. It has hurt our religious sentiments. So we have demanded that a case be registered,” he said.
The opposition INDIA bloc MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Gandhi had on Friday held a protest against the donation theft at Ram Temple in Ayodhya as well as the police action against student agitators during their July 20 Parliament march.
The Opposition MPs enacted a skit to highlight the temple donation theft. As part of this, they placed donation boxes in front of the stairs leading to the Makar Dwar of Parliament. The MPs, including Mr Rahul Gandhi, put money into the boxes, while a saffron-clad Pappu Yadav, who sat near the boxes, slipped it into his pockets.
The INDIA bloc MPs also demanded Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation and questioned his absence from House proceedings. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Samajwadi Party’s Awadhesh Prasad and Dharmendra Yadav, and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Mahua Maji were among those who participated in the protest, standing behind a big banner that read, “Amit Shah sadan se gayab kyun?“