Wagle has been booked under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups), 500 (punishment for defamation), and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). We are probing the matter further, a senior police official said.
As per the FIR, Wagle made the alleged defamatory comments in a post on X on February 4, after PM Modi announced that Advani would be honoured with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India.
Commenting on it, Wagle, a known critic of the BJP government, had referred to both Modi and Advani as ‘rioters’. “Bharat Ratna for Advani means the appreciation given by one rioter to another,” he had said on X.
In his complaint, Deodhar has alleged Wagle has tried to disrupt peace in the society by hurting the sentiments of people with his disparaging comments on PM Modi and Advani.
Meanwhile, the supporters of the BJP and opposition parties clashed with each other at the ‘Nirbhay Bano’ event held at Pune’s Sane Guruji Smarak auditorium on Friday evening. The BJP had threatened to disrupt the programme, in which Wagle was one of the chief speakers.
The alleged BJP supporters also attacked the vehicle in which Wagle was travelling to reach the event venue. The event was organized by activist Vishwambhar Choudhary, and human rights lawyer Asim Sarode among others.
