The Kerala cyber police on Friday registered a non-bailable case against former state police chief TP Senkumar, for his statements in an interview, allegedly hurting communal harmony.
The case has been registered under IPC Section 153 A, pertains to promoting enmity between different groups of religion, race, place of birth, language, etc, reports Times of India.
If proved guilty, he could face up to five years of imprisonment.
The police department had sought legal opinion from director general of prosecutions Manchery Sreedharan Nair after receiving complaints.
Six complaints were received regarding the content of the interview published in a Malayalam online magazine ‘samakalikamalayalam.com’, days after his retirement.
The report quotes police sources as saying that the case was registered after receiving positive response from the DG.
The publisher of the magazine has been listed as the co-accused in the case.
In the interview, Senkumar had said that some people of the Muslim community had practiced Love Jihad in the state.
He also made statements on the growth of Muslim population in the state, and also about the share of Hindus in the population.
“The birth rate among Hindus, who constituted 54% of the population, was less than 48% and the birth rate among 19.5% of Christians was 15%,” Senkumar had said.
Senkumar later claimed that his statements in the interview were distorted.
A police investigation was initiated against him on Wednesday.
Senkumar retired on June 30. He was removed by the Left Democratic Front Government in May 2016, but was reinstated after he got a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court.