Mallikarjun Kharge ‘purification’ row: Day after he calls for FIR, Rahul Gandhi booked in Haldwani

On Sunday, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in Haldwani town, Uttarakhand. The FIR was lodged one day after Gandhi called for an FIR in a press conference in New Delhi, following a "purification ritual" held at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani on August 11.

Gandhi had described the act as a "crime" and highlighted the "untouchability" faced by Dalits, accusing the BJP-RSS of this mindset. The incident occurred days after a rally by Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, who also called the ritual a "crime" and demanded an FIR against those responsible.

The FIR was filed based on a complaint by Amit Kumar, a 26-year-old resident of Jawahar Nagar Colony in Haldwani. Kumar claimed that he and other Scheduled Caste members were part of a "cleanliness drive and religious ritual" at Ramlila Maidan on August 11. He maintained that the act had no personal or caste connections, but Gandhi had labeled it as related to "chuwachhoot" (untouchability) and a crime against Scheduled Castes.

The police lodged the FIR under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the SC/ST Act, including section 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and section 3(1)(Q) (giving false or frivolous information to a public servant). The incident has heightened tensions between communities following Gandhi's allegations.