Rahul Gandhi might go to jail! Case filed against Congress chief over his ‘Masood Azhar ji’ remark
The Congress president Rahul Gandhi has landed in legal trouble for referring Jaish-e-Mohammed chief, responsible for Pulwama attack as ‘Masood Azhar ji’. A case has been registered against Rahul Gandhi n a Bihar court on Tuesday for addressing Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish chief as "Masood Azhar ji", while attacking Prime Minister Modi, in a meeting with party workers in New Delhi.
Where on one hand India is pushing hard to designate Masood Azhar as global terrorists at UNSC, Rahul Gandhi’s this remark has irked a fresh row. A Social activist Tamanna Hashmi has filed a case against Congress chief under various IPC sections, including sedition, in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Suryakant Tiwary.
Addressing a meeting with Congress party workers in New Delhi on Monday, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the BJP government, saying, "These people with 56-inch chest, you would recall, in their previous government, the current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval went in an aircraft with Masood Azhar ji and handed over Masood Azhar there in Kandahar."
Jaish-e-Mohammed’s chief Masood Azhar claimed the responsibility of Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14. In his complaint, Hashmi had said Rahul Gandhi's reference to Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief as "Masood Azhar ji" has hurt the people's sentiment and insulted the entire nation.
The case was registered under various sections of IPC including 124A (sedition), 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc), and 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class).
Also read: Masood Azhar a Global Terrorist: UNSC to decide fate of Jaish chief; all eye on China
First published: 13 March 2019, 9:58 IST