The Prakasam district police informed the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday that they had filed an FIR against writer and social scientist Kancha Illaiah after another complaint was filed against him.
The police was acting on a complaint from one Vatsala of Pedagollapalli village in Prakasam district, who said that Ilaiah was promoting “social unrest and enimity“ by attacking the Vysya caste, the Times of India reported.
Following this, she moved court to order the police to register an FIR. On Thursday, the police said that a case had been registered under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity) read with Section 34 of the IPC.
Arya Vysya organisations have been holding protests in parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and burning the writer's effigies, seeking a ban on his book 'Komatollu Samajika Smagglarlu' (Komatollu are social smugglers).
The case against Kancha Ilaiah was booked even as the Telangana police registered yet another FIR against the writer, based on a complaint filed by a 22-year-old student.
The complainant K Nagaraju, a resident of Moula Ali, in his complaint claimed that through his book, Kancha Ilaiah not only targeted the Arya Vysyas but the entire Hindu religion.
Last month, Kancha was allegedly attacked with slippers and stones, as he was heading towards Hyderabad, after attending a function in Bhupalpally in Telangana.
Kancha filed a police complaint accusing four people of attacking his vehicle and trying to kill him.
Earlier this week, he even met Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma seeking police protection, after an attempted attack by Vysya community members.
The booklet ‘Saamajika Smugglerlu: Komatollu’ is the Telugu translation of his English book Post-Hindu India, written in 2009.
Kancha has defended his book, telling reporters earlier, "Social Smuggling is a phrase. It is the economic process of exploitation, which means earning in business but not investing back into society."
He was a professor from the political science department from Osmania University and is currently the Director, Center for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) in Hyderabad.