Mallikarjun Kharge ‘purification’ row: Zero FIR filed in Bengaluru against Uttarakhand BJP chief

The Bengaluru police have registered a Zero First Information Report (FIR) against Uttarakhand BJP chief Mahendra Bhatt and other party members following a purification ritual allegedly performed at a ground in Haldwani after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge attended a public rally there. The complaint alleges that the ritual, referred to as 'Shuddhikaran', was carried out to propagate a casteist notion that the ground had turned impure due to Kharge's presence, as Kharge belongs to a Scheduled Caste community.

The police have registered the FIR under sections of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The complaint was filed by T R Ramappa, former vice-chairman of the Scheduled Tribes Department cell of the Adivasi Congress, who contends that the act was intended to discriminate against Kharge.

The Zero FIR allows the complaint to be registered at any police station regardless of where the alleged offence took place, and will be forwarded to the authorities in Uttarakhand for investigation.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.