History Professor Held for Critical Remarks on Finding Shivling in Gyanvapi Mosque Granted Bail
NEW DELHI, May 21: Ratan Lal, a history professor with Delhi University’s Hindu College who was arrested on Friday night for some “objectionable posts” on the social media questioning the claims of finding “Shivling” in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque, was granted bail by a local court on Saturday.
Calling the post a failed attempt at satire, the court said, “The feeling of hurt felt by an individual cannot represent the entire group or community and any such complaint regarding hurt feelings has to be seen in its context considering the entire spectrum of facts/circumstances,” the court said in its order. However, it also ordered Lal to “strictly refrain from posting any social media posts or interviews” regarding the controversy which resulted in the present FIR.
Lal was arrested by officers of north Delhi’s Cyber Police Station. He is accused of promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion and committing “acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony”. He was produced in court this afternoon and his advocate moved a bail application. The Delhi police were seeking 14-day judicial remand of Lal to investigate the case, claiming it has received six complaints against him so far. Lal had allegedly posted a photo of the structure and made objectionable comments on Tuesday. Following his arrest, the students and teachers of several colleges are protesting at Delhi University’s Arts Faculty demanding his immediate release.
“It was not expected from such an educated person,” the counsel for Delhi police said, claiming that the professor was also defending the posts in YouTube videos. Lal’s counsel called his arrest an “abuse of law”. “Jails will be thronged by intellectuals,” he said. There was no case here, he said adding that the FIR should also not have been filed. He also demanded a departmental enquiry against the police for directly arresting him, without issuing any notice. “It’s electronic evidence. If notice was issued, the evidence could have been deleted within a click,” the police argued.
Defending its action, the police side said it can make an arrest to prevent the accused from committing further offences. “A wrong message will go to society if bail is granted. Any scrupulous person will get encouraged for such posts if he is enlarged on bail now,” the Delhi police counsel said.
The FIR against Lal was registered Tuesday night following a police complaint by a Delhi-based lawyer. In his complaint, advocate Vineet Jindal said Lal recently shared a “derogatory, inciting and provocative tweet on the Shivling.” The statement made by Lal in a tweet was “instigating and provoking”, the lawyer said in the complaint. Defending his post earlier, Lal had said, “In India, if you speak about anything, someone or the other’s sentiment will be hurt. So this is nothing new. I am a historian and have made several observations. As I wrote them down, I have used very guarded language in my post and still this. I will defend myself.” Last week Lal had tweeted that his 20-year-old son was receiving threats on Facebook messenger after his tweet on the Gyanvapi mosque issue.
(Manas Dasgupta)
