FIR lodged against Aakar Patel in Surat for promoting enmity between different groups

An FIR has been lodged against Aakar Patel, the former Amnesty International chief, by a BJP MLA in Surat. Patel, who is essentially from Surat has been named in an FIR by authorities under IPC section 153A which is for 'Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony.'

The FIR was registered by a BJP MLA named Purnesh Modi with regards to several tweets that Patel had posted which talked about a particular community. Three tweets of Patel have been raised objection to in this FIR. 

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In the three tweets as quoted in the FIR have been about the 'Teli community' (Ghaanchi community in Gujarati), Godhra riots, RSS, etc. Since Narendra Modi belongs to that community, Patel has made several points about the community and Modi as well. 'Narendra Modi comes from a community that was made OBC in 1999 under Vajpayee. Oil pressing and grain selling community called teli in N India (ghachi in Gujarat) is a well-off community. Is meat-eating. Modi himself has taken on the manner of his RSS leaders and gone veg.' 

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Another tweet stoked tensions around the Ghachi community in relation to the Godhra riots. Another tweet was also about the RSS wherein he stated, "The RSS and BJP have always profit by the violence against other Indians especially Muslims. Vajpayee more than Upadhyay, Advani more than Vajpayee and Modi more than Advani benefitted from this. We have to stop this cycle of violence and blood profit by the RSS and BJP '. 

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Purnesh Modi, who also belongs to the same community has claimed that this tweet hurts his religious sentiments. When asked about the first tweet, he claimed that "even if it is a fact, it just should not be written about any community. He has then tried to link the community to the Muslim perpetrators of Godhra. This is a serious issue and should be acted upon urgently. These kind of statements create enmity and should not be made. He has made these statements about RSS, Narendra Modiji; he shouldn't do this," Purnesh Modi told Republic Media Network.

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(Image- Twitter/@Aakar__Patel)