In a first, Kerala’s former DGP TP Senkumar was arrested by the police on Sunday for allegedly making communal statements in an interview to a magazine. He was, however, released later on bail after his statement was recorded.
A case has been registered under IPC Section 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups of religion, race, place of birth, language).
Earlier, the Kerala High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Senkumar in the case. The court had directed the officer be released on bail, if arrested, after executing a bond of Rs 50,000 with two solvent sureties.
A case was registered by the cyber crime police after six complaints were received regarding the content of the interview published in a Malayalam online magazine ‘samakalikamalayalam.com’, days after his retirement.
In the interview, Senkumar claimed that some members of the Muslim community had practiced ‘love jihad’ in the state. He also went on to make allegedly inflammatory statements on the growth of the Muslim population in the state vis a vis Hindus.
Senkumar later claimed that his statements in the interview were distorted. He had clarified that his answers to the interviewer were based on facts.
Though the journalist who took his interview submitted the mobile phone in which his interview was recorded in the court, forensics could not retain the audio clip. The journalist had informed the court that the interview was deleted from his phone.