New Delhi: A history professor at Delhi Universityโs Hindu College was arrested last night after a social media post appeared to cast doubt on claims of a โShivlingโ discovered inside Varanasiโs 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 โacts harmful to the maintenance of unity.โ
Following a police complaint from a Delhi-based lawyer, an FIR was filed against Mr. Lal on Tuesday night. Mr. Lal recently tweeted a โderogatory, inflammatory, and offensive tweet on the Shivling,โ according to counsel Vineet Jindalโs complaint.
The statement made by Mr. Lal in a tweet is โinstigating and provokingโ, 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, โIn India, if you speak about anything, someone or the otherโs 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.โ
โI strongly condemn Prof Ratn Lalโs arrest. He has the Constitutional Right of opinion and expression,โ he tweeted.
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