Magsaysay winner Sandeep Pandey booked for making 'inappropriate comments' against Vir Savarkar

Aligarh, Jan 22: An FIR has been registered against Magsaysay Award winner and human rights activist Sandeep Pandey for allegedly making inappropriate comments against Hindutva ideologue Vir Savarkar.

On Tuesday, Pandey was booked after the national vice president of Hindu Mahasabha Rajiv Kumar filed a complaint alleging that Pandey made the comments while addressing anti-citizenship law protestors at Aligarh Muslim University on Sunday.

The FIR has been reportedly lodged at the Civil Lines police station under sections 153 A (provocation with intent to cause riots) and 505 (1)b (inciting public or community to commit an offence).

In his address, Pandey had also said that the same people are "dividing Hindus and Muslims" who had done the same thing during British Raj.

Pandey responding to this has alleged that "masked goons" hired by some right-wing organisations have disrupted peaceful protests in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University and they were the real culprits behind the violence in these varsities.

As per PTI report, meanwhile, noted historian Irfan Habib has also accused Uttar Pradesh Police of using pressure tactics to crush the democratic rights of citizens to protest peacefully.

He claimed police were behaving in a partisan manner and deliberately trying to suppress dissent.