Case filed against Rahul Gandhi for addressing Jaish chief as 'Masood Azhar ji'

A case was filed against Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a Bihar court on Tuesday for addressing terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad chief as "Masood Azhar ji". The case was filed under various IPC sections, including sedition, by social activist Tamanna Hashmi in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Suryakant Tiwary.

Addressing a meeting of Congress workers in New Delhi on Monday, Gandhi had attacked the BJP, saying, "These people with 56-inch chest, you would recall, in their previous government, the current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval went in an aircraft with Masood Azhar ji and handed over Masood Azhar there in Kandahar."

Azhar's outfit plotted the Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14.

In his complaint, Hashmi said Gandhi's reference to Jaish-e-Mohammad's head as "Masood Azhar ji" has hurt the people's sentiment and insulted the entire nation.

The case was filed under various sections of IPC including 124A (sedition), 153 (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc), and 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class).

The court fixed March 16 as the next date for hearing.