Karnataka journalist arrested for hate speech against Prophet Mohammed, Tipu Sultan

New Delhi: After allegedly making several inflammatory comments Prophet Mohammed and Tipu Sultan last week, in the run up to the Karnataka state government’s celebrations of Tipu Jayanti, journalist Santosh Thammaiah has been arrested and booked under Section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code. The editor of right-leaning magazine Aseema, Thammaiah, according to the complaint filed against him, had said: “It was because of the Prophet’s ideologies that Tipu Sultan carried out terrorist acts.” Thammaiah made the comments at an event organised by Hindutva group Pragnya Kaveri titled ‘Tipu Karaala Mukha Anaavarana’ (the exposure of Tipu’s dark side). The complaint was filed by a resident of Siddapura, Askar KV on November 6. “Such speech can lead to unrest and disrupt the peace in Kodagu as Santosh Thammaiah has insulted the Prophet in his speech,” Askar’s complaint states. According to The News Minute, “Such speech can lead to unrest and disrupt the peace in Kodagu as Santosh Thammaiah has insulted the Prophet in his speech,” Askar’s complaint states. Askar’s complaint alleges that Thammaiah’s speech was aimed at creating unrest between the minority community of Muslims from Kerala, who are residing in Kodagu, and the Hindus in the region. Askar also filed a complaint against an RSS man from Mysuru, Santosh Hosalli, alleging that Hosalli, too, made inflammatory statements against the Muslim community residing in Kodagu.” The police has said that permission was never granted for the event to take place. “They did not have police permission to organise the event. Yet they went ahead and held the programme. The complaint was filed on November 6 and we told the complainant that we can arrest Santosh after Tipu Jayanti celebrations, as there was a possibility that some clashes may have erupted,” the Gonikoppa police told The News Minute. Taking umbrage to Thammaiah’s words, on November 11, several Muslim organisations protested outside the Gonikoppa police station, demanding that Thammaiah be arrested. Within hours of his arrest at midnight on Monday, a social media campaign began to snowball as politicians and others took to Twitter and Facebook to defend the right-wing journalist. In an article, the right-leaning Swarajya magazine, while saying that “Tipu is nothing but a tyrant in Kodagu and the Kodavas accuse him of defeating them by using fraudulent means” added that “the big question now being raised is if free speech exists at all in Karnataka, which is ruled by the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress alliance”. Chikkamagaluru MLA CT Ravi tweeted: “Santosh Thammaiah who spoke about the brutalities against Hindus by Tyrant Tippu Sultan has been arrested by the Communal Government in Karnataka. Bhagavan & Pseudo Intellectuals like him who have consistently abused Hindu Gods are roaming free”. Senior BJP leader B.L. Santhosh said in a tweet, “Santhosh Thimmaiah, a writer with nationalist leaning arrested by coward Karnataka police for speaking against Tipu Jayanthi. We will fight tooth and nail against this cowardice act.” Source: The Wire