Holding protest demonstration not a crime, but delivering provocative speech is, says Lakshmi Hebbalkar on FIR against VHP leaders

Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Udupi District in-charge Minister, said protests are allowed, but provocative speech is a crime. FIRs were registered against Sangh Parivar leaders for their provocative acts.

Udupi District in-charge Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar on Saturday, August 5, said it was not wrong to hold protest demonstrations; but it was a crime to deliver provocative speech. FIR was registered [against Sangh Parivar leaders] for indulging in provocative acts, she said.

Ms. Hebbalkar was responding to reporters’ query at Udupi about the cases registered against Sangh Parivar leaders after they held a demonstration recently protesting the alleged initial police inaction in the voyeurism incident reported from a paramedical college.

She said freedom of speech enshrined in the Constitution gives right to people to lodge their protest. BJP and Sangh Parivar speak about the Rama Rajya and they themselves indulge in provocative acts seeking to divide communities. The Congress, she said, seeks amity in society.

“The police are acting as per the law in the alleged voyeurism case and I will ensure that they undertake a free and fair probe as the district in-charge minister. Being a woman and in-charge of Women and Children Development Department, I cannot tolerate injustice to any woman,” she said adding one has to wait till the investigation was completed in the case since it concerns future of women students.

Speaking about the Gruha Lakshmi scheme of the government, Ms. Hebbalkar said nearly one crore families have registered so far out of 1.02 lakh families in the state. The government has sought August 18 or 20 dates from All India Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for its formal inauguration, she said.