Thanjavur district police on Tuesday (July 16) arrested S. Ezhilan alias Ramkumar, founder-president of an outfit called ‘Tamil Nadu Kudiarasu Katchi’, for posting a message on his Facebook account claiming that a ‘beef-eating festival’ would be held in Kumbakonam soon.
What Happened?
33-year-old Ezhilan, a native of Koranattukaruppu village near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district, invited ‘kaavis’ (a reference to saffron outfit members) for the ‘festival’. He further mentioned that at the event, they would be given the foremost place where they could taste the dishes.
The date of the event, however, was not mentioned.
He was booked by police under IPC Sections 298 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), The Hindu reported.
Reportedly, Ezhilan posted the message on July 13, and on a complaint by Surendran, the Village Administrative Officer of Kallapuliyur panchayat, an FIR was registered against him.
Similar Incidents
This incident comes days after a man was attacked by a group of people in Nagapattinam district for posting a photograph of him on his Facebook account consuming beef soup. There was outrage on social media over the assault and netizens condemned the incident.
In June, organisers of a food festival in Kolkata had to replace the word ‘beef’ with ‘beep’ after receiving several threat messages and later had to cancel the event over security concerns. Before the event was cancelled, Arjun Kar, one of the organizers, said that several right-wing pages and social media accounts were sharing his name and number, following which they changed the name.
In May, a tribal lecturer was arrested by the Jharkhand Police, two years after he wrote a Facebook post saying eating beef was part of the Adivasi tradition. Court records said that he also criticised the law against bovine slaughter and questioned why tribals had to “live like Hindus”.
Also Read: Kolkata Beef Festival, Renamed As Kolkata ‘Beep’ Festival, Cancelled After Barrage Of Threats
