By IANS
Jodhpur : A first information report (FIR) has been filed against a local legislator of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and a designer for bringing out a poster depicting Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as a goddess, police said Saturday.
The FIR was registered Friday after a lower court here Sep 14 issued a contempt notice to a police station here for not registering an FIR despite its earlier direction.
“We have registered an FIR under Sections 298, 295-A and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Hemant Bohra, the poster designer, and BJP MLA Suryakanta Vyas,” a senior police official told IANS.
“A senior CID (Criminal Investigation Department) official has been entrusted with the task of enquiry into the case,” he added.
The poster, copies of which were distributed in April, showed the chief minister as Annapurna, the Hindu goddess of harvest, showering blessings on her ministers.
BJP leaders – former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani and party president Rajnath Singh – were shown as Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva respectively, blessing Raje.
Two ministers in Raje’s cabinet, Laxmi Narayan Dave and Pratap Singh Singhvi, were shown as Kuber and Indra, the gods of wealth and rains respectively.
Ironically, the objection to the poster came from within the party.
Sheetal Kumari, wife of senior BJP leader and former external affair minister Jaswant Singh, had approached the court, saying Raje’s portrayal as goddess had hurt Hindus’ religious sentiments.
The court had on June 20 asked police to register an FIR and present an investigation report in the case.
As police did not make any progress, Sheetal Kumari went to the court again.
Judicial Magistrate Bulaki Das Vyas then issued a contempt of court notice to police and asked them to file a reply in 10 days.