The Kerala High Court, on Thursday, granted a stay order on the FIR filed against Sangeet Kumar, the Vice-President of the Nair Service Society (NSS).
Kumar had been implicated for allegedly leading a protest in response to a statement made by AN Shamseer, the Speaker of the Kerala legislative assembly, about Lord Ganesha.
Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V ordered an interim stay of the FIR for 4 weeks.
The prosecution’s position asserts that around 1,000 activists from the NSS, under the guidance of Kumar, converged into an unauthorized assembly close to the Palayam Ganapathy Temple in Vanchiyoor on August 2, around 5:30 PM, with the intention to carry out the “NSS Namajapa Yathra.” This demonstration was conducted as a form of dissent against the Speaker’s comment about Lord Ganesha.
The police alleged that this yathra was conducted in violation of the law, involving the use of microphone sets mounted on vehicles to raise slogans.
This action, without proper authorization, resulted in hindrances to the free movement of pedestrians and vehicles on the roads, disregarding police directives.
In response, the State Police took suo motu action by filing charges against Kumar under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), and 283 (danger or obstruction in a public way) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as several provisions within the Kerala Police Act, 2011. The crime was registered against Kumar and 1,000 identifiable individuals, all of whom are office bearers or activists of the NSS.
Kumar acknowledged his participation in the yathra as presented by the prosecution, he contended that none of the charges pressed against him were applicable.
His plea maintained that he and his fellow NSS activists gathered peacefully to express their disagreement with the Speaker’s inflammatory remarks concerning Lord Ganesha.
As per reports, while making a speech in an event, the Speaker had commented, “Education should promote science because scientific discoveries provide solutions to various issues. However, they (the BJP) are trying to replace scientific facts with myths in textbooks … According to them, the first example of plastic surgery is Ganesha.”
The comment has met with criticism from various quarters, including NSS, which asserted that this remark hurt the sentiments of Hindus.
