LUCKNOW: UP Police registered an FIR against Urdu poet Munawwar Rana for his controversial remarks on the recent killings in France in the row over the caricatures of Prophet Mohammad.
The FIR was lodged by sub-inspector Deepak Kumar Pandey with Hazratganj police. Pandey said Rana’s remarks promote enmity between religious groups, hurt sentiments and disturb peace and tranquillity.
The 67-year-old poet has been booked under IPC Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion), 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), 505(1)(b) (Punishes those who intent to cause or likely to cause fear or alarm among the public, or any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity, 505(2) (Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report, with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community) and the IT Act 67 and 66.
The charges levied against the poet are non-bailable. The FIR was lodged on Sunday afternoon.
Rana told TOI he is not scared of FIR and was ready to face the consequences. “I’m a worshipper of Ma Saraswati and not scared of an FIR. I am ready to face the consequences and go to jail if speaking truth is a sin. Let the government do what it wants to do,” the recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu Literature told TOI.
He shot to limelight in October 2015, when he returned his Sahitya Akademi award in the middle of a TV interview during ‘intolerance’ movement launched by the civil society. DCP, central, Somen Verma said Rana’s statement on France killings in a TV interview was found controversial and hence the FIR was lodged against him.
Speaking to TOI last week, Rana had said that drawing cartoons of Prophet Mohammad and killings over it, both are wrong but he “would also have done the same” as insulting a religious figure is unacceptable.