Kerala Police on Sunday arrested Popular Front of India (PFI) leader Yahya Thangal after he made a derogatory remark on the judiciary over the case of hate speech during the PFI rally in Kerala. The PFI state committee member was arrested after making a remark that ‘Judges are wearing saffron innerwear’.
In the early hours of Sunday, Yahya Thangal was taken into Police custody from his home in Perumpilavu in Thrissur and was taken to Alappuzha where his arrest was recorded. On Saturday, while addressing a public rally in Thrissur, Thangal had commented, “If they are wearing saffron underwear, of course, they will feel the heat. It will burn you. We are fully aware it will disturb you,” Thangal was heard commenting on the HC’s reaction to the incident where a minor boy was shouting communal slogans against Hindus and Christians.
#PFIHateCoverUp
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 28, 2022
Radical group crosses the line once again, doesn’t even spare judiciary!
PFI leader says “judges wearing saffron innerwear”
PFI affiliate SDPI gives out open threat; says violence likes SDPI pic.twitter.com/ReT8qaZBZL
Earlier, the Kerala High Court had objected to the hateful sloganeering at PFI’s ‘Save the Republic’ rally held on May 21 in Kerala’s Alappuzha. In one of the videos which went viral on the Internet, a boy sitting on the shoulder of a person could be seen issuing threats to Hindus and Christians living in Kerala. He said, “Be ready with rice flakes to fill your mouth if you won’t live quietly (For Hindus). Be ready to burn incense sticks in your home if you won’t live quietly (For Christians). Because we are coming, we are your death. We won’t go to Pakistan or Bangladesh, you have to live here as we say, or else we know how to make you live quietly, we will kill you even if we are attacked.”
After the video went viral, Kerala High Court directed police to take action against the organizers of the event held in Alappuzha, Kerala.
Consequently, an FIR was registered on the complaint by lawyer Vijayakumar PK under sections Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 505(1)(b) (act against the public tranquillity), 505(1)(c), 505(2) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and Section 120(o) of KP Act against PFI Alappuzha district secretary Mujeeb and Navas along with others.
The Kerala Police have made 21 arrests so far in the case, which includes that of the boy’s father who raised the slogan. During PFI leader Thangal’s arrest today, PFI activists gathered in front of his house and tried to block the police vehicles. After a minor clash with the agitators, the police arrested Thangal and took him to Thrissur on Sunday morning.
