Police in Karnataka have booked members of the governing body of a school run by the RSS in Dakshina Kannada’s Bantwal after a video of students re-enacting the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition was circulated.
Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police Laxmi Prasad told TNM that Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, Narayan Somayyaji, Vasanth Madhav and Chinnappa Kotiyan have been named in the FIR registered under Sections 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code by Bantwal Town police.
The FIR was registered based on a complaint by Aboobacker Siddique, a PFI activist and resident of the same area as the school's.
TNM has earlier reported how the Sunday’s event at Sri Rama Vidyakendra High School in Kalladka in Bantwal was attended by Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, DV Sadananda Gowda; Puducherry Governor Kiran Bedi; and several ministers from Karnataka.
The school is owned by RSS leader and the organisation's south-central region executive committee member, Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat. Prabhakar Bhat is a powerful RSS leader in the coastal belt of Karnataka.
When TNM asked Bhat about his defiance in not following the Supreme Court’s observations regarding the mosque demolition, he said, “Even though the Supreme Court has said that what happened to Babri (masjid) was wrong, we have questioned that part of the judgment itself. We cannot accept everything that is said in the judgment. I don't agree with it.”
Kalladka Bhat even said that he felt nothing was wrong in showcasing a play on what he believes is a historical event. “It is not a mosque. It is just a building. It is a historical event that we are depicting. We have depicted Jallianwala Bagh as well. Did anyone highlight that? There are hundreds of instances like this and we have to show the injustices that have happened in our country,” he added.