By TCN Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Delhi police has refused to register FIR against Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy for his inflammatory article in which he incited hatred and violence against Muslims. Shehzad Poonawala, a student of Pune’s Indian Law School but now residing in Delhi, approached the Defence Colony police to file FIR against Swamy but the police using their discretionary powers just filed a complaint.
Swamy wrote an article titled “Analysis: How to wipe out Islamic terror” in the DNA, a Mumbai-based English daily on July 16, in which he advocated among other things, denying voting rights to Muslims if “they don’t acknowledge with pride that their ancestors were Hindus.”
Shehzad, a student of Indian Law School, alleges that in the concerned article, Swamy “intentionally promoted, by written words, enmity on the grounds of religion and disharmony, hatred and ill will between different communities namely Hindus and Muslims which is in contravention of Section 153A(1) (b) and 153B(1) (c) of the Indian Penal code, 1860.”
Shehzad, who on July 17, went to the Defence Colony Police Station in South Delhi, said that the police was “duty bound to register an FIR” in the case as it was a case of cognizable offense. But Inspector Ishwar Singh at the police station, who received his representation, was “extremely adamant about not filing the FIR” citing discretionary powers of the police to conduct a preliminary enquiry before filing an FIR even in cases of cognizable offence. He couldn’t get his FIR registered even when he approached Commissioner of Police, Delhi.
Shehzad approached the Police Commissioner on 19 July but full nine days later he got a response from Commissioner’s office saying his complaint “has been referred to the Joint Commissioner of Police/Southern Range for further necessary action.”
In his article Swamy alleges that the terror attacks are done by Muslims in order to scare the “Hindu psyche and create the fear of civil war.” He appeals to all the Hindus of the country to unite against radical Muslims and asks them to take inspiration from Jews. “Fanatic Muslims consider Hindu-dominated India “an unfinished chapter of Islamic conquests,” says Swamy wants to “propagate the development of a Hindu mindset.”
Shehzad Poonawala has now submitted his complaint to the National Commission for Minorities (NCM). The NCM has taken his complaint into consideration and all the members of NCM have read Swamy’s article. The NCM chief Wajahat Habibullah has told a TV news channel this afternoon that the commission will take a decision on the issue on coming Tuesday.
In his complaint to Wajahat Habibullah, the chairperson, NCM, Shehzad has said that, Swamy and people like him “who are in the business of fuelling such divisive agendas, shouldn’t be allowed to manipulate emotions and undermine democracies for shallow political gains.
Shehzad requested the NCM to deal with Swamy in accordance with the law.