Actor and activist Chetan Kumar A. was arrested by the Sheshadripuram police on Tuesday evening for a tweet where he made critical remarks against a Karnataka High Court judge who is part of the three-judge Bench hearing the petitions related to the hijab controversy. The tweet on the judge, Krishna Dixit, was posted on February 16. The police have booked Mr. Chetan under non-bailable offences.
The actor was picked up from his Kumara Park residence at about 3.30 p.m. and was reportedly questioned at an undisclosed location for several hours. The police announced his arrest late on Tuesday night, till which time, the family alleged that they were given no information.
The actor’s wife, Megha, told The Hindu that though she was at home, she did not realise that the police had come to the house and taken Mr. Chetan with them. “At about 3.30 p.m., Chetan went down as someone had come to meet him, but did not return. After a while, I started searching for him which was when neighbours told me a police jeep had taken him away. I was not even informed,” she said. It was only hours later that police announced his arrest.
Non-bailable offences
The police have taken up a suo motu case against Mr. Chetan and booked him under Section 505 (2) for “statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes” and Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code. Both non-bailable offences can lead to three years in prison if convicted. The police said Mr. Chetan would be produced before the jurisdictional magistrate on Wednesday.
This is not the first time the actor has found himself in the centre of controversy because of his tweets. His critical remarks on ‘brahminism’ on Twitter had upset members of the community, leading to two FIRs against him.
