A former DG of Kerala police was arrested recently on charges of promoting communal enmity.
Why was he arrested?
It is a case of gross misuse of the law.
The state police had booked him under Section 153(A) of the IPC.
It is a legal provision against hate speech.
This was for remarks he made in an interview to a Malayalam magazine in July.
In the interview, he presented what appeared to be a prejudiced view of the state’s Muslim community.
He claimed that population growth in the state was skewed in favour of Muslims and that a section in the community promoted religious conversion through “love jihad”.
What should have been done?
His views are undoubtedly controversial, even bigoted.
The fact that such a person headed the state police is indeed a cause for concern.
However, to book him under hate speech provisions is uncalled for.
Such views cannot be banished by wielding hate speech laws.
They call for greater political engagement and debate.
Skewed ideas about communities will have to be confronted with arguments and facts.
It is undemocratic to demand the curtailment of the right to freedom of expression by raising the spectre of communal disharmony.
It would set a precedent for curtailing future dissents against the government.
He also had a fraught relationship with the ruling regime.
The present government had removed him from the DGP’s post after it won the election last year.
Hence the current move questions the real intentions of the government.
Ideally, his remarks need to be challenged in the public sphere, not through criminal action.
