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FIR was registered in Kotwali police station on the complaint of Amit Kumar, resident of Jawahar Nagar, Haldwani.

Haldwani. An FIR has been registered against senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for his controversial remarks regarding the issue of 'purification' at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. Police gave this information on Sunday. Police said that an FIR has been registered in the Kotwali police station on the complaint of Amit Kumar, resident of Jawahar Nagar, Haldwani. Amit Kumar, who belongs to the Valmiki community, is associated with 'Shri Ram Sena Charitable Service Trust'.

According to the police, Rahul Gandhi has been made an accused in the complaint. In the complaint given to the police, Amit Kumar alleged that Rahul Gandhi, in his comments regarding this controversy, gave caste color to the Yagya program and tried to term the people associated with it as 'untouchable' and 'anti-Dalit'. The complainant alleged that Rahul Gandhi's remarks had hurt the sentiments of the Valmiki community. Kumar said that people from different sections including Scheduled Castes had participated in the program and it had no connection with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge or any particular person.

Police said that based on the complaint, an FIR has been registered under various sections of the Indian Code of Justice (BNS) and these include provisions to deliberate acts intended to promote enmity between different groups and to hurt religious sentiments. According to the police, apart from this, relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 have also been added to the FIR.

Earlier, along with the complaint, Kumar had requested the police to take cognizance of the video recording of the press conference, social media posts and photo-videos of the programs of August 8 and 11 and record the statements of the people concerned. Copies of the complaint were also sent to the Nainital Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and other officials as well as the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

After the public meeting of Congress President Kharge on August 8 at Ramlila Maidan in Haldwani, some people had allegedly performed 'Shudhikaran Yagya' there on August 11, due to which political turmoil had started. While the Congress is terming the matter as anti-Dalit thinking of the BJP, the BJP defended it saying that during the public meeting in Kharge, there was littering and such slogans were raised which should not have been raised at a religious place.

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