MALAPPURAM: The police registered a case against Dr. N. Gopalakrishnan, director of the Indian Institute of Scientific Heritage, on Tuesday for his hate speech insulting the Muslims in Malappuram district. The Pothukal police charged him with promoting enmity on religious grounds and deliberate attempt to outrage the religious feelings of a particular community. The case was based on a complaint filed by High Court lawyer Jahangeer Palayil in the wake of a video of his speech appearing on the YouTube which caused a hue and cry.
“The IPC sections pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and place of birth and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony (153A) and deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion (295A) have been slapped on Gopalakrishnan,” Mr K. Dhijesh, Sub-Inspector of Pothukal, said.
The case was handed over to the circle inspector of Edakkara on Wednesday. The police will approach YouTube authorities with the help of the cyber cell to get the alleged videos posted by Mr. Gopalakrishnan. The complainant said that Gopalakrishnan’s speech had hurt his sentiments as it insulted all the women in the district, including his mother and grandmother.
“Besides this particular video, there are many other objectionable videos of Gopalakrishnan on YouTube and Facebook in which he insults various religious communities. In some, he spews venom on the Christian religious figures and Hindus in communist parties. There is enough ground for slapping UAPA on him,” says Mr Jahangeer. Another complaint filed by the Muslim Youth League against Gopalakrishnan in Kottakkal police station has been handed over to the cyber cell for verification.
