Case filed against Raj Thackeray for insulting Hindi language

A complaint case was filed against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray in a court here on Monday for allegedly insulting the Hindi language.

The case was filed by social activist Tamanna Hashmi in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Arti Kumari Singh here, which fixed December 12 as the date for hearing the matter.

The complainant felt aggrieved by the report aired on various news channels wherein Thackeray allegedly said that Hindi was not the country's national language and went on to abuse it.

Thackeray's utterances have not only hurt me deeply, but all other Hindi loving people, the complainant said, adding that it was an insult to the entire country.

The complainant sought a case against Thackeray under Indian Penal Code sections 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 296 (Disturbing religious assembly) and 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person).

Under these sections the accused could be sent to jail for one to two years or fined or both.