Calcutta HC stays arrest warrant issued against Shashi Tharoor over ‘Hindu-Pakistan' comment

Kolkata, Aug 22: The Calcutta High Court put a stay on the arrest warrant issued against Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor in connection with his 'Hindu-Pakistan' comment last year.

The Calcutta HC's decision came more than a week after the Magistrate at Bankshall court issued a bailable arrest warrant against Tharoor after he or his advocate failed to appear before it. The court, however, asked Tharoor to appear before it on September 24.

In July 2018, advocate Sumeet Chowdhury had filed a petition against the Thiruvananthapuram MP against his Hindu Pakistan remark. Later, his advocate had appeared before the court in August last year. But, As Tharoor or his advocate failed to appear before the court so the court issued an arrest warrant against him.

In July last year, Tharoor made a controversial statement, he said if BJP won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it would create a condition leading to the formation of a "Hindu Pakistan".

Last year, while addressing an event in Thiruvananthapuram, the Congress Lok Sabha MP had said, "If they (BJP) win a repeat in the Lok Sabha, our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive as they will have all the elements they need to tear apart the constitution of India and write a new one.... that new one will be the one which will enshrine principles of Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan and that isn't what Mahatama Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and great heroes of freedom struggle fought for."