Aakar Patel Arrested Over Tweets on Modi, Ghanchi Caste; Gets Bail

As per the complaint with Surat City police Patel’s tweets were objectionable to the Ghanchi community

File image of journalist Aakar Patel.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/Aakar Patel)

Journalist and former head of Amnesty International India, Aakar Patel said he was arrested and then let out on bail earlier this week. He was arrested based on an FIR filed by Purnesh Modi, a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Surat West constituency.

In his complaint with Surat City police, Modi alleged that Patel published three tweets that were objectionable to the Ghanchi community in Gujarat.

The FIR was registered on 7 July under Sections 153 A, 295 A, 505 (1) B, 505 (1) C, 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Wire reported that, according to the complaint, Patel tweeted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi belonged to the Ghanchi caste, which is “well-off” and is “meat-eating” and that Modi has taken on the manner of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and has turned vegetarian.

Patel, in another tweet, wrote that those involved in the 2002 Sabarmati train carnage belonged to the Muslim Ghanchi community.

In his third tweet, on 27 June, Patel wrote: “The RSS and BJP always profit by the violence against other Indians, especially Muslims. Vajpayee more than Upadhyaya, Advani more than Vajpayee, and Modi more than Advani benefitted from this. We have to stop this cycle of violence and blood profit by the RSS and BJP.”

Earlier in June, the Bengaluru Police had filed a case against Patel for allegedly trying to instigate minority communities in India to protest in a manner similar to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in the United States.

The FIR, filed by an inspector attached to JC Nagar police station, accused Patel of attempting to stir protest such as those that have erupted in US in response to the killing of a Black man, George Floyd.