A non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against yoga teacher Baba Ramdev by a Rohtak court for his controversial “beheading” remark last year.
At the Sadbhawana Sammelanin in Rohtak in April last year, Ramdev said: “If he wasn’t bound by the law, he could behead lakhs of people refusing to chant ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’”. He was called to promote peace in the city that witnessed violence during the Jat quota stir, reported The Indian Express.
Court of additional chief judicial magistrate of Rohtak (ACJM) Harish Goyal issued the non-bailable warrant after Ramdev failed to appear before the court after a bailable warrant issued against him earlier and summoned him for his remarks “for intentional insult with intent to provoke the breach of peace”.
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Senior Congress leader Subhash Batra, who filed the complaint, said the court had asked Rohtak SP to comply with the orders of non-bailable warrant against Ramdev, the newspaper reported.
Speaking at a large gathering the rally organised by the RSS, Ramdev said: “Koi aadmi topi pehan kar ke khada ho jaata hai, bolta Bharat Mata ki Jai nahi bolunga, chahe meri gardan kaat do. Arey is desh mein kanoon hai, nahi toh teri ek ki kya, hum toh lakhon ki gardan kaat sakte hain. Lekin hum is desh ke kanoon ka samman karte hain. Koi aise khada ho ke bol de, isliye in hurdangiyon ke honsle buland ho jaate hain. Hum is desh ke kanoon aur samvidhan ka samman karte hain, nahi toh koi Bharat Mata ka apmaan kare, ek nahi, hum hazaron lakhon ke sheesh kalam karne ka samarth rakhte hain”.
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(Some person wears a cap and stands up. He says I will not say Bharat Mata ki Jai even if you decapitate me. This country has a law, otherwise let alone one, we can behead lakhs. But we respect this country’s law. If somebody stands up and speaks like this, that gives strength to hooligans. We respect this country’s law and Constitution, otherwise if anybody disrespects Bharat Mata, we have the capability of beheading not one but thousands and lakhs).
In April 2014, Ramdev was booked by the Uttar Pradesh police for his controversial remarks targeting Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. “He goes to Dalits house for honeymoon and picnic. Had he married a Dalit girl, then his luck could have clicked and he would have become the prime minister,” Ramdev said about Gandhi.
The Congress demanded a public apology stating that this comment was anti-Dalit and an insult to them. Ramdev later withdrew his comment saying that he had used the phrase "honeymoon period" in the political sense.
In November 2015, Ramdev raked up a controversy when he said that he was denied the prestigious Nobel Prize because he is a "black". He said, “If I would have been a fair-skinned person, the Nobel Prize would have been awarded to me till now for my work in the field of yoga. But, it has been denied to me because I am black.”
