AAP leader Khetan booked for hurting religious sentiments

GS Paul

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 6

In a significant development, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Ashish Khetan has been booked for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

The case has been registered under Section 295-A (for hurting religious sentiments) at Civil Lines police station, Amritsar, on the basis of a complaint lodged by All-India Sikh Students’ Federation president Karnail Singh Peermohammad.

Police Commissioner Amar Singh Chehal said the case was registered late last night.

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On July 3, Khetan, AAP’s spokesperson and head of the Delhi Dialogue Commission of the party, had allegedly equated AAP’s ‘51-Point Youth Manifesto’ with Guru Granth Sahib, the Bible and the Quran in a bid to establish it as a ‘true’ commitment towards the youth, if voted to power.

The complainant, Peermohammad, had announced last evening that they had given the AAP a three-day period to submit a public apology for the “blasphemous act”, otherwise, “criminal proceedings" would be initiated against Khaitan.

Interestingly, Khetan was booked hours after he submitted a public apology for his ‘unintentional’ move to refer the party manifesto as holy book. Even the AAP’s top brass and the Chairperson of Punjab Dialogue Committee, which had prepared the youth manifesto, had apologised and assured to change the manifesto cover that had the AAP symbol, the “broom”, on the photo of the Golden Temple.

Earlier, AAP MLA Naresh Yadav’s role had come under scanner in the alleged Quran sacrilege incident in Malerkotla, Sangrur, on June 24.