MP: FIR against four over controversial book being taught in govt law college; ABVP stages protest

An FIR was registered on Saturday against the author and the publisher of a book which has been taught at a governmentrun aw college in Indore along with its principal and a professor on charges of promoting enmity between different groups and hurting religious feelings police saidAkhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ABVP has alleged the book Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System contains very objectionable content against the Hindu community and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS which encourages religious fundamentalismThe First Information Report FIR was registered following the complaint lodged by a student of Government New Law College and hours after state Home Minister Narottam Mishra directed Indores commissioner of police to register a case after conducting a probe in 24 hours into the contents of the bookAn FIR has been registered against Dr Farhat Khan author of the book titled Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System Amar Law Publication principal of the institute Dr Inam Ur Rahman and professor Mirza Mojiz BaigThey are booked under sections 153A promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion race place of birth residence 295A Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs and other sections of the Indian Penal Code said Bhawarkuan police station incharge Shashikant ChaurasiaBefore the registration of the FIR ABVP activists staged a protest and raised slogans against the book on the premises of the Law College A heavy police force was also deployedABVPs college unit president Dipendra Singh Thakur said Farhat Khans book contains very objectionable content against Hindu community RSS Vishwa Hindu Parishad Bajrang Dal and Durga VahiniHe said the book has been promoting religious bigotry and has been taught to students in the college library for the last five yearsThe book was removed from the library by the college management quickly after controversy he saidAlso Read India never favours war violence Defence Minister Rajnath SinghOn the other hand Hitesh Khetrapal of Amar Law Publications the Indorebased publisher of the book said The first edition of this book was published in the year 2015 When we came to know about its controversial parts in 2021 we discussed it with its author Dr Farhat Khan and got the related pages of the book changed he saidAccording to Khetrapal the books author has already submitted a letter of apology regarding the disputed portions of her bookMeanwhile the colleges principal Dr Inam Ur Rahman resigned from his post amid the controversyHigher Education Departments Additional Director Kiran Saluja said the principal in his resignation letter sent to the departments commissioner said he is hurt by the agitation of the college students and unknown people from outside and was leaving the postOn ABVPs allegation about religious extremism being promoted in the college Saluja said We could not talk to students due to continuous sloganeering and uproar in the college The investigation into these allegations will start probably from MondayThe controversy erupted on Thursday when ABVP activists went on a rampage claiming some teachers of the institute were promoting religious fanaticism among the new students and propagating negative things about the Union government and the ArmyAfter the protest the college principal said he removed six professors from academic work for five days and decided to investigate the allegations by a retired district court judgeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever