Madhya Pradesh Police arrest 11 in Tipu Sultan poster row

Around 11 people have been arrested and booked for allegedly putting an objectionable poster resembling former Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan in communally sensitive Madhya Pradesh's Khandwa town.

The Moghat police in Khandwa district subsequently lodged an FIR in the matter.

Among the 11 arrested, five are said to be teenagers who were arrested on December 3 and December 4. Meanwhile, Superintendent of police (SP), Shesh Narayan Tiwari said, "All have been booked under Sections 124A (sedition), Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and Section 505 (statements inducing public mischief) of IPC."

"We are consulting legal experts about dropping Section pertaining to sedition in the case," Tiwari said. Yesterday, the five who are minors were released by police with a warning while the remaining were taken on a day long police remand and were produced before the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court in Khandwa town.

Also, one of the six accused, Pankaj Soni, owner of a graphics shop where the poster was made and printed, was granted bail by the court yesterday, while the remaining five accused, have been sent into judicial custody by the same court.

On December 2, a poster bearing a portrait resembling late Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan along with objectionable content to endanger communal amity was put at Jalebi Chowk in the heart of Khandwa town during the Eid Milad Un Nabi procession.

-ANI