‘Aaj Tak’ anchor Anjana Om Kashyap booked for hurting sentiments of Valmiki community

The police in Punjab’s Ludhiana have booked Aaj Tak journalist and managing editor Anjana Om Kashyap for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Valmiki community, a Scheduled Caste, reported The Indian Express on Sunday.

The first information report, registered on the complaint of Bharatiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj, also named the India Today Group and its chairman, Aroon Purie.

The complaint pertained to comments made by Kashyap during an episode of her show “Black and White”, which aired on Tuesday and featured a discussion on the recent attempted attack on Chief Justice BR Gavai.

It was filed by Chaudhary Yashpal, the national coordinator of the Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj. The organisation is headed by Aam Aadmi Party leader Vijay Daanav, who also chairs the Punjab government’s Dalit Vikas Board.

Yashpal and Daanav condemned Kashyap’s remarks as deeply offensive and called for her immediate arrest.

“Where was the need for the anchor to relay an unsubstantiated story about someone whom we revere as our god,” The Print quoted Yashpal as saying.

The FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 299, which penalises deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings through spoken or written words, signs, visible representations or electronic means and sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, The Indian Express reported.
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