UP: Lucknow Police Invoke NSA Provisions on Two Persons For Desecration of Ramcharitmanas

Lucknow: The Lucknow police have invoked provisions of the National Security Act (NSA), which provides for detention for up to a year without trial, on two persons who were arrested on charges of allegedly burning pages of extracts of the Ramcharitmanas in the Vrindavan area of the state capital in the wee hours on January 29. 

The District Police Office, in a communiqué released here on Sunday, said that two jailed men — Saleem, a PGI resident and Sainik Nagar resident Satyendra Kushwaha – were arrested on charges of burning copies of Ramcharitmanas on January 30. 

The order to invoke NSA against Saleem and Satyendra Kushwaha has been served in jail, according to Additional DyCP (ADCP) East zone, Syed Abbas. For this, a copy of the order has been sent to the jail as well. 

"Barring MLC Maurya, all the six — Satendra, Salim, Yashpal, Devendra Pratap, Suresh Singh — were arrested,” the ADCP told the media. 

Rajesh Rana, SHO PGI where a case has been registered against them confirmed to NewsClick that both the accused Salim and Satendra had applied for bail earlier following which NSA was slapped against them.

THE INCIDENT 

On January 22, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Swami Prasad Maurya stoked controversy with his statement on Ramcharitmanas. 

Maurya, a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, has said that certain verses of  Ramcharitmanas — a 16th-century poem "insult" a large section of the society on the basis of caste demanded that those be "banned".

He compared the pain of women and 'Shudras' with that of Mahatma Gandhi after he was thrown out off a train by Britishers.

"The pain caused by the insult and misbehaviour the British had meted out to Gandhiji on a train by saying 'Indians are dogs' was only felt by him. Similarly, the pain caused by the derogatory comments made against women and Shudras in the guise of religion are only felt by them," Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi.

On January 24, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Maurya at the Hazratganj police station over his controversial comments on the "Ramcharitmanas", police said.

The case was registered following a complaint from Shivendra Mishra, a resident of the Aishbagh locality in the Bazar Khala area of Lucknow.

On January 29, a group of people allegedly belonging to an outfit called Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha held a protest apparently in solidarity with Maurya, burning pages of Ramcharitmanas in support of its leader Maurya in the Vrindavan area in Lucknow. The group claimed that its members only burnt photocopies of pages allegedly carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in the Ramcharitmanas.

However, another FIR was registered against the SP leader and Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha on January 29 at the PGI police station.

The case was registered on a complaint from Satnam Singh Lavi, a member of the District Working Committee of BJP Minority Morcha, a resident of Aishbagh who alleged that the act of burning the copies of the "Ramcharitmanas" posed a threat to peace, police said.

The police registered an FIR against 10 persons, including Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya on various charges including 95 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion), 153-A (promoting enmity), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 506 (criminal intimidation). 

Commenting over the action, Roshan Kumar, a professor at Purvanchal University speaking with NewsClick said that the BJP-led government created a “fear psychosis” among the people by imposing NSA.

"Be it the Goonda Act, or NSA, the government is misusing its power while imposing it. We are living in a free and democratic India which has to function within the framework of the Constitution of India as given to us by Babasaheb. The BJP government is trying to curb freedom and democracy. We have slid ten steps into democratic functioning. Therefore, I think Yogi Adityanath needs to put his practices and the function in accordance with the Constitution," he said, adding that there should be an investigation of the whole matter before invoking NSA. 

Kumar quoted the great socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia as saying that the Ramayana contains a lot of rubbish besides diamonds and pearls. Diamond pearls should not be scattered in the garbage disposal process and garbage should not be eaten in the diamond pearl eating process.

NSA is slapped to prevent anyone “from acting in a manner prejudicial to the security of the State, maintenance of public order and maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community”. Section 153 A provides for maximum five-year imprisonment.

Subhasini Ali, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M) told NewsClick, "This discussion is not new but it is going on for a long time. Tulsidas was a contemporary of Kabir and Ravidas and the duo was a critic of Brahmanism during that period. Women, Dalits and Shudra were humiliated a lot in his poem by Tulsidas. In fact, every third chaupai (a verse of the epic) of Ramcharitmanas glorifies Brahmin and asks for charity Brahmin in form of cow and land. In fact, even if it was asked to worship Brahmin; a good king is the one who takes care of the brahmin as said in some of his verses. Therefore, it won't be justified to say there is nothing much in Ramcharitmanas."

She further added, "The politics stoop so low that BJP supporters are threatening to behead Swami Prasad Maurya and there will be no action against them despite such threats."

Talking about political discussion after the 'controversy', she said, "After Maurya, the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav not only stood by his colleague but also said he believes only in the constitution and we should not degrade other religions.  RSS and the ruling government don't want to discuss varna vyavastha, or social hierarchy but now it is not possible. "

Ramcharitamanas was written by 16th-century poet Tulasidas. The upper caste — both Brahmins and Kshatriyas of that area treat the book as their spiritual Ramayana while Shudras and Dalits find it problematic as it has derogatory couplets against them.