PIL in Madras HC seeks FIR against Kamal Haasan over his "Hindu terrorism" comments

Kamal Haasan has recently kicked up a row over his comments on "Hindu terrorism" in a Tamil magazine. Now a petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking direction to the police to register an FIR against the actor.

When the plea came up for hearing on Thursday (November 16), Justice M S Ramesh directed the public prosecutor to get instructions from the police authority concerned and adjourned the petition by a week.

According to the petitioner G Devarajan, a registered advocate clerk in the High Court, Haasan said in an article published in a Tamil magazine that the presence of "Hindu terrorism" in the country could not be ruled out. "By making such statements Kamal Haasan is trying to brand Hindus as terrorists. He should understand that no religion preaches violence but only peace. The actor with vested interests is trying to divide the Tamil community on basis of religion," the petitioner said.

He added that he approached the Chennai police commissioner on November 4 and Teynampet police on November 6 with his complaint against the actor. Since no action was taken on the complaints, he approached the High Court.

The petitioner also wanted the court to direct the police to take action against the editor of the Tamil magazine for publishing the article.

Haasan had said, "In the past, Hindu right-wing groups would not indulge in violence, but hold a dialogue with the opposite parties on their arguments. But this old tactic was defeated and they started using muscle power. They started indulging in violence."

"The right-wing cannot challenge anyone asking the question — show me one Hindu terrorist. Terror has spread into their camp as well," he added.

(With PTI Inputs)