Guwahati News Desk: An FIR was registered on Friday against the poet Munawwar Rana, for allegedly inciting religious feelings by comparing Valmiki, who wrote Ramayana, with the Taliban.
As per the sources, the FIR was registered at Hazratganj police station under Sections 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth etc.), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 505(1)(B) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and the SC/ST atrocities prevention act.
The complaint made against Rana alleged that, the poet’s statement, hurt feelings of the Dalits and of all the Hindus, that compared the great Valmiki with the Taliban.
A senior official said, “FIR has been registered against Rana on complaint of one PL Bharti, who alleged that he hurt religious feelings by comparing Valmiki with Talilban.”
Regarding the comparison made, Rana while talking to a channel had said, “Valmiki became a God after he wrote the Ramayana, before that he was a dacoit. A person’s character can change. Similarly, the Taliban, for now, are terrorists but people and characters change.”
The poet added by saying, “When you talk about Valmiki, you will have to talk about his past. In your religion, you make anyone god. But he was a writer and he wrote the Ramayana, but we are not in competition here.”
Moreover, in November of last year (2020) an FIR was registered against the poet, at Hazratganj police station on similar charges for allegedly defending the killings in France over a caricature of Prophet Muhammad.