FIR lodged against Rahul Gandhi over purification remarks
A Valmiki complainant in Haldwani said his Aug 29 press comments hurt Scheduled Caste sentiments.
Uttarakhand police registered an FIR against Rahul Gandhi on Sunday night in Haldwani. The case is at Kotwali police station.
The complainant is Amit Kumar, a Valmiki community member from Jawahar Nagar Colony. He is linked to Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas. He said Gandhi's Aug 29 media briefing in Delhi hurt Scheduled Caste sentiments.
The FIR cites Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections on promoting enmity and related offences, along with provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Nainital SSP T C Manjunath confirmed the filing. ASP Amit Saini will lead the probe.
The dispute began after a public gathering by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at Ramlila Maidan on Aug 8. Days later, members of the same right-wing group performed a shuddhikaran havan at the ground. Kharge called it untouchability and sought cases. Gandhi later demanded an FIR under the SC/ST Act against those who ran the ritual.
Kumar alleged Gandhi cast a caste angle on what he called routine cleaning and ritual work, and portrayed participants as practising untouchability. He said people from different castes, including Scheduled Castes, took part.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha is now named in a case that grew out of the same Haldwani row he wanted prosecuted the other way.
Kharge raised the purification claim in the Rajya Sabha. Congress protested across Uttarakhand. Gandhi's Aug 29 briefing kept the demand for an SC/ST Act case alive.
The complaint flips the frame. A Scheduled Caste complainant says Gandhi's words, not the havan, are the offence. The FIR puts that claim on the police file.
Whether the ritual was cleaning, worship, or caste humiliation is still contested in public. The FIR does not settle that. It does move the fight from speeches into a formal investigation.
ASP Amit Saini heads the probe. Congress has not, in the reports filed so far, given a full legal reply to the Haldwani FIR. The political argument over Haldwani will travel with whatever the investigation does next.