The Mumbai police have registered two cases against NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad for allegedly outraging religious feelings with his ‘Lord Ram was a non-vegetarian’ remark, officials said on Saturday.
The FIRs against the legislator, who belongs to the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), were registered at MIDC police station in Andheri and Ghatkopar on the complaints lodged by a VHP functionary and BJP MLA Ram Kadam, respectively. A day earlier, a similar case was registered against Awhad in Pune city.
“A case was registered against Awhad at MIDC police station on Friday night based on a complaint lodged by Gautam Ravriya, an office-bearer of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).
The complainant said that he heard Awhad making objectionable remarks against Lord Ram on a news channel,” a police official said.
Awhad was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), he said.
An FIR on similar charges was registered against him in Ghatkopar police station on Saturday based on a complaint lodged by local MLA Ram Kadam, another official said. Awhad, who represents the Mumbra-Kalwa assembly constituency in Thane district, had kicked up a row three days ago with his remark.
“Lord Ram used to hunt and eat. He is ours, of bahujans. You (an apparent reference to the BJP) are turning us into vegetarians, (but) we are following the example of Ram and consuming mutton,” he said at an NCP conclave at Shirdi on Wednesday.
The term ‘bahujan’ is used to denote the non-Brahmin sections of society in Maharashtra.
The MLA later expressed regret over his remarks but didn’t withdraw them. In Pune, the FIR against Awhad was registered based on a complaint lodged by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s city unit chief Dhiraj Ghate, police said.
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