Kumar Vishwas booked for hurting sentiments

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas, who will challenge Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in his bastion Amethi, may be staring at trouble after being booked for his alleged remarks on “Muharram” and some Hindu deities.

A case under Sections 295 (Injuring or defiling place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) was registered against Vishwas at the Mahanagar police station in the state capital late on Sunday night.

The case was registered after a pro-Hindu activist Ram Prasad Mishra lodged a complaint against the AAP leader accusing him of “hurting” the religious sentiments of the Hindus and muslims with his remarks. “We have registered a case and will investigate the matter,” the police officials said here on Monday.

The “Shia” community was “very angry” with Vishwas for his remarks on “Muharram” though he had apologised.

Some Shia muslim lawyers in Muzaffarnagar have demanded registration of a criminal case against Vishwas. They have threatened to move the court if the district police did not concede to their demands, reports said.

Shia leaders in the state capital have dismissed Vishwas’s apology terming it a “ploy to avoid the wrath of the community in the elections”. “The apology is nothing but an election strategy. He is only trying to avoid political damage,” said Amir Haider, a senior Congress leader.

Apparently realising that the comments could snowball into a major controversy ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll in which the AAP plans to contest all  80 seats in the state, senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh had met prominent shia cleric Maualana Kalbe Jawwad recently.

According to sources, Jawwad asked Vishwas to go the “majlis” (meeting) of the Shia community to be held in Delhi and apologise for his remarks.