Hyderabad police register case against Assam CM for remarks on Rahul

Based on a complaint filed by the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) and party MP A Revanth Reddy, the FIR was registered Himanta Biswa Sarma, the police said

: An FIR was registered against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma here on Wednesday for his alleged remarks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, police said.

Based on a complaint filed by the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) and party MP A Revanth Reddy, the FIR was registered, the police said.

A case under sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (2) of IPC was registered, they said.

Revanth Reddy, in the complaint filed on Feburary 14, accused Sarma of deliberately using obscene words in his speech against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on February 11 at a public meeting in Uttarakhand. Sarma chose such usage to get political mileage and Revanth sought legal action.

In the complaint, it was said the speech was to create disharmony in society and incite enmity/hatred/ill-will against the community of followers/supporters of the Indian National Congress and its leaders.

After the case was registered, Revanth claimed that the police did not register the FIR with charges as sought by his party.

"We had to complain again after we came to know about the sections mentioned in the FIR. To put it in one word, this FIR is like 'operation success, patient dead'. Because, they weakened my complaint by registering the FIR under these sections," he told reporters.

The nature of the complaint got changed with the charges mentioned in the FIR, he said.

He again complained seeking invocation of stringent charges, the TPCC president said.

TPCC vice-president Mallu Ravi claimed the police restrained several of his party leaders from going ahead with the protests called for by TPCC to demand the police to register cases against the Assam Chief Minister.

Ravi said the TPCC called for protests at the offices of Commissioners of Police and Superintendents of Police.

The protests were held at several places in the State despite police action, he said.

Congress sources claimed it had complained two days ago in about 700 police stations seeking registration of cases against the Assam Chief Minister.

Sarma had slammed Gandhi for demanding proof of the September 2016 surgical strike launched by the Indian Army against terrorist camps in PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) and questioning the efficacy of the the Covid-19 vaccines during a rally in poll-bound Uttarakhand.

The Assam Chief Minister had sought to know whether the BJP had ever demanded proof of him being the son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The remarks drew sharp criticism from the Congress.