Delhi police arrested a college history teacher late on Friday night for a Facebook post mocking the claim of a Shivalinga’s discovery at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque complex, but a court released him on bail on Saturday stressing the right to hold “different views and perceptions”.
Chief metropolitan magistrate (central) Siddhartha Malik refused the prosecution’s demand for a fortnight’s judicial custody and set Hindu College associate professor Ratan Lal free against a bond of Rs 50,000 and a like surety.
“India is a country of more than 130 crores (sic) people and any subject can have 130 crores different views and perceptions,” Malik’s order said.
“The feeling of hurt felt by an individual cannot represent the entire group or community and any such complaint regarding the hurt feelings has to be seen in its context considering the entire spectrum of facts/ circumstances.”
Malik added: “It is true that the accused did an act which was avoidable considering the sensibilities of persons around the accused and public at large. However, the post, though reprehensible, does not indicate an attempt to promote hatred between communities.”
The court passed a gag order on matters related to the case as a condition for bail.
Lal had on Friday been called for questioning to the cyber police station in north Delhi in connection with an FIR registered under penal sections 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 295A (deliberate act to outrage religious feelings), and was later arrested.
The complaint had been lodged by lawyer Vineet Jindal, who had earlier filed complaints against the BJP’s opponents such as Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav.
Students from groups such as the CPM-backed SFI and the CPIML Liberation’s Aisa staged a dharna outside the police station after midnight, and protests against the arrest continued on Saturday at Delhi University and JNU.
Jindal had taken offence to Lal’s Facebook post, which was accompanied by an image of a news report showing purportedly leaked photos of the “Shivalinga”, which Gyanvapi mosque sources claim is a defunct fountain. Lal had made a sarcastic comment in the context of the phallic symbolism of the structure.
On Saturday, Jindal told a TV channel he would file cases also against those who express support for Lal.
At the student protest in Delhi University, SFI state committee member Noel Benny said: “The FIR has been lodged against Professor Lal under the section of blasphemy, an act which has no place in a country such as India which is not a theocratic state.”
Benny added: “Our Constitution recognises itself as a secular country, promoting all contending schools of thought, including those that are against institutional religions. Therefore, blasphemy must be decriminalised. It is only a tool in the hands of religious fundamentalists to quell voices who stand firmly against religious mongering.”
Ian Woolford, who heads the Hindi language programme at Australia’s La Trobe University, tweeted: “You lock up humanities professors because you are pathetic cowards. You are so afraid. This is very embarrassing for India… you run to courts and police like pathetic losers because you are so threatened by history, so afraid of critical inquiry, so terrified of the truth.”
After facing threats, Lal, a Dalit, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday seeking armed security guards, or at least a licence and training to use an AK-56 rifle.
“I remember that you once said, ‘If you want to shoot, kill me, don’t attack my Dalit brothers’. It seems that even the supporters of your politics do not take your words seriously. They continue to attack Dalits even after you have made such a serious statement,” he wrote.
Students and teachers chanted slogans on Saturday at several protests against hate mongering over the Gyanvapi mosque. They demanded the release of Delhi University teacher Hany Babu M.T. and former professor G.N. Saibaba.
Babu is in a Navi Mumbai prison facing trial in the Elgaar Parishad case over an alleged Maoist plot, while Saibaba, a paraplegic, is undergoing life imprisonment in Nagpur after being convicted of links with the banned CPI Maoist.
Delhi University Hindi professor Apoorvanand tweeted: “The arrest of Dr Ratan Lal again shows that satire or sarcasm is now a crime in India, especially if the person using it is from a ‘wrong’ community. Others calling directly for murder are seen as saving the ‘ethics’ of their community.”