New Delhi: A history professor at Delhi University’s Hindu College was arrested last night after a social media post appeared to cast doubt on claims of a ‘Shivling’ discovered inside Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque complex, according to officials.
Ratan Lal, an assistant professor, was detained by police from the Cyber Police Station in north Delhi. He is accused of inciting religious hatred amongst groups and performing “acts harmful to the maintenance of unity.”
Following a police complaint from a Delhi-based lawyer, an FIR was filed against Mr. Lal on Tuesday night. Mr. Lal recently tweeted a “derogatory, inflammatory, and offensive tweet on the Shivling,” according to counsel Vineet Jindal’s complaint.
The statement made by Mr. Lal in a tweet is “instigating and provoking”, the lawyer said in the complaint. The issue is very sensitive and is pending before the court, he added.
Defending his post earlier, Mr. 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.”
“I strongly condemn Prof Ratn Lal’s arrest. He has the Constitutional Right of opinion and expression,” he tweeted.
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