Varanasi Police File FIR Against Rahul Gandhi, Pappu Yadav and Awadhesh Prasad Over Parliament Protest Skit

Varanasi Police have registered a case against Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and two other MPs—Pappu Yadav and Awadhesh Prasad—for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during an opposition protest in the Parliament complex on Friday.

Rahul is the Congress MP from Rae Bareli. Yadav is an Independent MP from Purnia in Bihar and Prasad is the Samajwadi Party MP from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Kashi Zone) Gaurav Banswal said the FIR was filed at the Varanasi Kotwali police station following a formal complaint by a delegation of seers.

Police registered the case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 302 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) and 3(5) (common intention).

Seers Demand Police Action

A delegation of seers led by Mahant Balak Das—the head of Patalpuri Math in Varanasi—filed the complaint at the Kotwali police station on Saturday.

The protest damaged their reputation, the seers said. The political stunt offended millions of Sanatan Dharma followers, they added. While expressing dissent is acceptable, using holy attire and sacred traditions for politics is wrong, they said. Yadav's actions insulted Lord Ram and cannot be forgiven, Balak Das said.

"No follower of Sanatan Dharma can forget this act. It has hurt our religious sentiments. So we have demanded that a case be registered," Balak Das said.

The Parliament Protest Skit

The controversy stems from a protest staged by INDIA bloc MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul, on Friday near the Makar Dwar stairs of Parliament.

The protest targeted the alleged donation theft at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and police action against student agitators during their July 20 Parliament march.

The opposition MPs enacted a skit to highlight the temple donation theft. As part of this, they placed donation boxes in front of the stairs leading to the Makar Dwar. The MPs put money into the boxes, while a saffron-clad Yadav, who sat near the boxes, slipped it into his pockets.

The INDIA bloc MPs also demanded Union Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation and questioned his absence from House proceedings.