A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on Monday, May 13 against Asianet Suvarna News and its anchor Ajit Hanamakkanavar on charges of spreading communal hatred through a programme. The Kannada news channel, linked to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, used the Pakistani flag to represent the Muslim community of India in a show that aired on May 9 and later apologised for the incident claiming it was an ‘oversight.’
The complaint filed by an activist on May 11, said that in the programme titled 'Hindu population has decreased, Muslim population has increased enormously,’ the anchor referred to a working paper of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) and claimed that the population of Hindus declined by 7.8% between 1950 and 2015.
It is to be noted that the EAC-PM report — released in the midst of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections — uses projected figures for 2015 to make the comparison between Hindu-Muslim populations, but reveals nothing new that was not already known from the 2011 Census of India.
While debating about the alleged increase of the Muslim population, a graphic was aired on screen in which the Hindus were identified using an Indian flag while the Muslims were identified with a Pakistan flag. The same Pakistan flag is also subsequently used while referring to the percentage of Muslims in Pakistan as well, the complaint said
“The anchor explains his opinion on why the Muslim population is increasing in India. He states that one reason is that there is no minimum age of marriage for Muslims. He says if a child marriage complaint is filed with the Social Welfare Department, they cannot take action due to Islamic personal law. This is blatantly false as the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act prohibits child marriage for all, irrespective of religion. Then, he states that the decision to not have children is against the Islamic religion. This is again meant to insult the muslim community,” the complaint said.
Ajith has been booked under IPC section 505(2) for making statements that create or promote enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.