The Tamil Nadu police have registered an FIR against three Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ) functionaries for allegedly making derogatory remarks against the Karnataka High Court’s hijab verdict. On March 15, a full-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court dismissed all the student petitioners’ pleas against the ban on hijabs in educational institutions in the state.
The TNTJ had held a protest rally against the high court’s hijab judgment at Goripalayam in Madurai. During the rally reportedly held on March 17, Thursday, one of the speakers referred to the Jharkhand incident where a judicial officer was allegedly killed and went on to say that similar incidents will take place and ‘if something happens to the judges, they themselves will be responsible’.
In a video shared by Indu Makkal Katchi, TMTJ leader Covai R Rahmatullah announced that if judges get killed over the hijab case verdict, then they themselves will be responsible for their death.
An open murder threat to the judges...
— Indu Makkal Katchi (Offl) (@Indumakalktchi) March 18, 2022
But DMK and @tnpoliceoffl are u still going to sit and watch this drama.... pic.twitter.com/VwHzk3rfJ2
In another video, the protesters can be heard saying: “We won't fear Modi, Yogi, Amit Shah or even death. We only fear for Allah. Stop it before we lose our patience. If we lose our patience, you won’t exist.”
A complaint was filed against the functionaries of the TNTJ alleging that they made derogatory remarks against the Karnataka High Court order. Following the complaint, the Madurai police have booked three TNTJ functionaries under five sections of the Indian Penal Code including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 505(1)(c) (intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to 6[three years], or with fine, or with both), 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), 506(1) (punishment for criminal intimidation) r/w 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment). The three accused are yet to be arrested.