In a shocking statement, Shri Rama Sene Secretary Siddalinga Swami on Wednesday offered Rs 3 lakh as a bounty on the tongues of three Kashmiri students arrested in connection with a sedition case in Hubballi.
A video of his speech making the comment during a Shivaji Jayanti event in Gadag’s Municiap College Grounds has since gone viral. Incidentally, the involvement of Shri Rama Sene, a fringe Hindu-right organisation, had come up during the probe into journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh’s murder.
In the video, he is heard saying, “The people who've chanted Pakistan Zindabad, if you cut their tongue and bring it to us, Shri Rama Sene will pay Rs 1 lakh for each tongue, which is Rs 3 lakh in total. Such traitors are not fit to stay in our country.”
New kid on the block: #Sriramsene 's Siddalinga Swamiji: Those who chanted pakistan zindabad slogans (3 #Kashmiri students) if you cut their tongue, Sri Ram Sene will reward them with RS. 1 lakh for each tongue. Hence Rs. 3 lakh for three tongues will be rewarded to them. pic.twitter.com/etsX7OLw4c
— Imran Khan (@keypadguerilla) February 20, 2020
Police are yet to take any action in connection with the incident.
The three students Talib Majeed, Basit Asif Sofi and Aamir Mohiuddin Wahi, were arrested after an allegedly seditious video featuring them became viral. In that video, the trio is allegedly heard saying "Azaadi”, "Pakistan" and "Zindabad" over a song purportedly made by the Pakistan Army in the background.
They had courted arrest after protests and complaints by the Bajrang Dal and the ABVP. Currently, all three students are in judicial custody till March 2.
Incidentally, on Tuesday, when the students were being produced in court, they were assaulted by members of the ABVP and Bajrang Dal as they were making their way out of the court hall.
Based on that, police had registered a suo motu case against unnamed persons for the attack.
The Hubbali Bar Association had also passed a resolution not to represen the accused, calling them anti-nationals, and urged other lawyers in the state to also boycott them.
But, on Thursday, the Karnataka High Court had taken strong objection to the stand by Hubbali Bar Association and asked the Hubbali Police Commissioner to give protection to lawyers willing to represent the accused.