A man from Kakinada town in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh has been booked by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) for making inflammatory speeches insulting another religion. Praveen Chakravarthi, a Christian preacher, has been booked for making provocative comments that could potentially disturb harmony, according to Additional Director General of Police (CID) PV Sunil Kumar. The arrest comes at a time when opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh have been alleging that there is a spate in attacks on Hindu places of worship in the state, and have accused the YSRCP government of enabling these alleged attacks.
Based on a complaint from one Venkata Lakshminarayana from Guntur, the CID registered a case against Praveen after verifying the complainant’s claims by watching videos that the preacher had previously uploaded on YouTube. Addl DGP (CID) PV Sunil Kumar said, “In the videos, he made inflammatory speeches and provocative statements that are hurtful and insulting to another religion. His statements could give rise to a tense atmosphere and conflict among different groups. While there’s nothing wrong with preaching one’s own religion, no one can insult other religions.”
In a couple of videos of Praveen that have been circulated online, he is heard speaking about setting up ‘Christ villages’, where the members of the village have “accepted Christ.” He also speaks of damaging “trees and stones” that are worshipped by local residents, saying the residents themselves would allow him to do so as they believed they were “fake”.
PV Sunil Kumar said that Praveen has been booked under serious charges, including Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 505(2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 124A (Sedition) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code). He was also booked under Section 115 (Abetment of offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life) of the IPC read with Section 66 of The IT Act, 2000 (Computer related offences).
According to Times of India, Praveen was arrested by the CID and produced before the court on Wednesday.
Amidst repeated allegations of rising attacks on Hindu places of worship, police have said that the cases have not dramatically risen under the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, as alleged by opposition parties TDP and BJP. The data of temple offences shows that in 2016 (under TDP government), 207 temple offences were recorded. In 2019 and 2020, when the Jagan government was in power, 177 and 143 offences were recorded respectively, police said.
Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang recently told the media that in the past four months, 337 people have been arrested and 180 cases filed against people suspected in cases of temple vandalism. However, a few mysterious, unsolved incidents, like the Antarvedi temple chariot fire in September, and the vandalisation of the Lord Rama idol in Ramatheertham in December, have triggered campaigns by opposition parties against attacks on temples.
Watch TNM’s detailed video story on the issue of alleged attacks on Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh: