Police registers FIR after vandalization of Salman Khurshid's house; security beefed up

After senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid's house in Uttarakhand was vandalised on Monday, the police registered an FIR against 20 unknown persons. As per reports, the miscreants allegedly belonging to a right-wing organization barged into the premises located in Satkhol village of Nainital district, vandalised the windows and flowerpots before setting the gate on fire. Sources revealed that protesters burned the former Union Minister's effigies and were seen holding the BJP flag.

The security outside the house has been beefed up and sources told Republic TV that the forensic team will investigate the crime scene thoroughly. Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (Rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 502 (sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) were invoked in the FIR. A day earlier, Khurshid expressed dismay at the vandalization. 

Speaking exclusively to Republic TV, Salman Khurshid remarked, "You can call them goons, but I don't want to call them goons. I want to call them citizens of India. I had my door open. Why don't they come and speak to him? Say the harsh words that they want to say? Why do they have to go to a house and try to put it on fire? I give them credit that they did not go inside and dismantle the house. They just lit a fire as far as the door was concerned. But it is a wooden house. The whole house could have blown up. They broke all the windows. The point really is; Why? Why is nobody stopping them? This kind of behaviour brings disrepute to a beautiful religion."

Salman Khurshid's controversial remark on Hindutva

The controversy over Hindutva was ignited by an excerpt in the 'The Saffron Sky' chapter of Khurshid's book 'Sunrise over Ayodhya' which read, "Whatever rationalization might have been offered, the Ayodhya saga was throughout about one faith trumping the methods of another. But the former faith itself was experiencing a contest of interpretation. Sanatan dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints was being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to the jihadist Islam of groups like ISIS and Boko Haram of recent years."