"Nobody taught me. I heard many shouting this slogan when we went for the NRC (National Register of Citizens) protest, then I by-hearted it. I don't know the meaning of it,” the child seen raising hate slogans at a recent PFI (Popular Front of India) rally in Kerala’s Alappuzha has said. On Saturday, May 28, the police took the boy’s father into custody in this case. The boy’s family was absconding ever since a case was registered. According to the police, the boy’s father was taken into custody immediately after they reached home.
“We have raised these slogans during NRC, CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protests at many places. He got those slogans from those protests. I don’t understand why this is a big issue, what is there in that to harass a child like this. No religion has been mentioned in that, it was against the Sangh Parivar, what is wrong in that. The child learned it from the earlier protests,” the child’s father told the media on Saturday.
Earlier, PFI state leaders have also justified the hate mongering slogans at their event, claiming that there was nothing wrong with it. Around 25 people have been taken into custody by the Alappuzha South Police in connection with the case.
The video of the boy sitting on the shoulder of a person during the rally named ‘Save the Republic’ held on May 21 while raising hateful slogans had gone viral. The persons, who were taken into custody, had reportedly repeated the slogan after the boy. Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court on May 27 ordered the state government to take strong action against those responsible for a 10-year-old child raising provocative slogans at the rally.
Sections 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 505 (1) (b) (Act against the public tranquility), 505 (1) (c), 505 (2) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and 120 (o) of the Kerala Police Act have been included in the FIR.