MP: Two Dalit students booked for Facebook posts on Hindu gods, goddesses

Dalit activists in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone town on Tuesday protested an FIR against two students of the community for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through Facebook posts on Hindu gods and goddesses.

Police booked Ritesh Maheshwari and Ojas Nijali, both 21 years old and students of Khargone Government Post-graduate College, on October 20 on the complaint of two other students of the institute.

In his Facebook post, Maheshwari had wondered why people worshipped Laxmi, Kuber and Ganesh on Diwali, when ideally they should be worshipping Ram for his return to Ayodhya.

Nijali had posted why India, the country of Laxmi and Kuber (associated with wealth), was “placed 100th on the World Hunger Index”.

The Anusuchit Jaati Janjati Sangharsh Morcha, a Dalit organisation, held protests at Khargone, about 338km southwest of state capital Bhopal, arguing that there was nothing objectionable in the posts. The protesters said booking the students was against their right to free speech.

Khargone superintendent of police, D Kalyan Chakraborty, said, “One of the complainants, Abhishek Patidar, said that the posts had hurt his religious sentiments. We have lodged an FIR and are investigating.”

He said the court would decide if the content of the posts were objectionable. “People are unnecessarily trying to give a different colour to the case. No one has been arrested so far,” he added.