Complaint Against Delhi's Hindu College Prof Over 'Offensive' Post on Shivling

A case against Prof Ratan Lal has been filed under several sections of the IPC by the Delhi police.

A complaint was filed against a history professor of Delhi University's Hindu College over an 'offensive' Facebook post on a shivling.

(Photo: Facebook/Hindu College)

A complaint was filed against a history professor of Delhi University's Hindu College over an 'offensive' Facebook post on shivling in the backdrop of the claims over the Gyanvapi mosque.

A complaint was filed at Delhi's cyber police station, North District against Prof Ratan Lal over a "deliberate and malicious post on Facebook intended to outrage reli­gious feelings by insulting a religion/ reli­gious beliefs," the police told The Quint.

A case has been filed under section 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings).

An investigation has been initiated in the matter.

'Being Attacked for Role in Intellectual Discourse': Prof Lal

Speaking to The Quint, Prof Ratan Lal said: "I am being attacked because of my role in the intellectual discourse."

He further said that he runs a YouTube channel called AmbedkarNama. 

"If everything hurts religious sentiments, then we should not say anything at all. People are trolling me online just for one statement. As historians, we are supposed to ask important questions," he said, adding that it must be probed if the shivling was destroyed and any conversion process (of the premises) took place.

"That is all I was doing - asking questions. The reaction came out of the blue," he said.

The post by Lal came amid the ongoing cases in the Varanasi court and the Supreme Court over the Gyanvapi mosque.

A committee formed to conduct a videographic survey of the mosque premises is scheduled to submit a report of the findings to the Varanasi court on Thursday.

After concluding the survey, the Hindu petitioners claimed that a shivling was found at the wazu khana of the mosque, following which the Varanasi court ordered for the area of the mosque to be sealed.

Later on Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard a petition by a Muslim group and ordered that despite sealing and securing the disputed site within the mosque where a shivling was claimed to have been found, the right of the community to pray at the site should not be hindered.