After videos of a boy raising provocative slogans against Hindus and Christians during a rally organised by the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Alappuzha, a city in Kerala state, went viral on social media, the local police on Tuesday took one person into its custody.
The person is suspected of bringing the child to the rally.
A case has been registered against the man under Section 153 (A) of the Indian Penal Code which deals with the offence of promoting enmity between different religious groups.
The police have also named PFI president of Alappuzha unit Navas Wandan, Secretary Mujeeb, and others as accused in the case.
A police officer explained to media that the case has been registered against the event's organisers and the group of people with whom the minor boy attended the rally.
In the video, the boy being carried by a man on his shoulders can be heard saying in the local dialect: “Keep rice ready. Yama [god of death] will visit your home. If you live respectfully, you can live in our place. If not, we don’t know what will happen.”
As soon as the video went viral, the state police initiated a probe into the matter.
According to media reports, more than 1,000 PFI supporters participated in the rally and chanted anti-Hindu and anti-Christian slogans.
The mob allegedly warned Hindus and Christians of dire consequences if they did not live peacefully in the country.
The sloganeering in the rally evoked criticism from all quarters.
Sharing the video on Twitter, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Kerala state office secretary Jayaraj Kaimal condemned the sloganeering and said in a tweet in Malayalam language that “Kerala is going through a terrible situation.”
Congress parliamentarian from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram city Shashi Tharoor also expressed shock at the incident.
Urging the state government to take action against the accused, he said: “The video of this event & media reports have shocked Kerala. Hate speech and intimidating slogans are deplorable irrespective of the politics behind them or the religion of those using them. Opposing communalism means opposing the communalism of all sides. I unequivocally condemn the threatening and communally charged slogans raised in the PFI rally held in Alappuzha.”
Taking cognisance of the matter, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written a letter to the state police on Monday seeking an action taken report, along with a detailed fact-finding enquiry report, within seven days.
The NCPCR has also alleged that the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the PFI are using children to spread hatred, enmity and communal violence in the country.
However, PFI spokesperson Rauf Pattambi said that the slogans were not raised at the organisation’s conference but during a rally in which thousands of people participated.
“The slogans were not against Hindus or Christians but Hindutva terrorists and fascists,” he added.
Last year, Alappuzha witnessed back-to-back killings of a state leader of the SDPI, the political wing of the PFI, and a state BJP leader within 12 hours.