Defamation case against Shinde for 'Hindu terror' remarks

A defamation case has been filed against Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in a Delhi court for his remarks linking the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to Hindu terrorism.

The petition, filed by a Delhi resident V P Kumar through his counsel Monika Arora, said that the home minister had "wilfully" made the "derogatory" remarks to cause ill will and hatred among communities.

"The complaint has been filed before the Metropolitan Magistrate Amitabh Rawat, who has fixed the matter for further consideration on January 28," Arora said.

Kumar in his petition alleged that Shinde's remarks aim at polarising minority votes for the 2014 general elections.

"The impugned statement is not only defamatory in its natural meaning but also contains the imputation and insinuation that Hindu religion is involved in anti-national and terrorist activities," the petition said adding that the minister "has used the words saffron as synonyms of terrorism, which is totally absurd, wrong, mischievous and defamatory".

 Addressing the All India Congress Committee meeting at Jaipur on Sunday, Shinde had said, "...we have got an investigation report that be it RSS or BJP, their training camps are promoting Hindu terrorism. We are keeping a strict vigil on all this."