Kerala Hindu outfit leader booked for hate speech

A top woman functionary of a Kerala-based religious outfit has been booked for her alleged inflammatory speeches, which were widely circulated on social media.

Police on Thursday said the case was registered against 'Hindu Aikya Vedi' state President KP Sasikala under IPC section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony).

She has been charged with the non-bailable offence based on a recent complaint filed by government pleader C Shukkur, they said.

The complainant had alleged that some of Sasikala's recent speeches, being widely circulated on social media, could flare up communal tension in the state.

He had also submitted to police a CD containing some visuals of the speeches downloaded from YouTube, besides web links.

Kasaragod District police chief Thomson Jose said the case was registered after verifying the links of the speeches and collecting details about its places of occurrence.

"Though the petitioner had submitted several materials to prove his point that the accused had made inflammatory speeches, we could find objectionable content in some of the speeches only," he told PTI.

A detailed investigation will be held in this regard before proceeding further, the official added.