'Ch*****' is not an abuse, it means 'stupid', says Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut after FIR in Delhi

Playing down the gravity of his remark and instead claiming conspiracy, Raut said that the police action upon him was an attempt to pressurise him.

A day after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut was booked by the Delhi Police for allegedly using abusive language while speaking about Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers during interviews with Marathi television news channels, the Rajya Sabha MP on Monday took to Twitter with a bizarre justification. Countering the Delhi Police action, Raut claimed that the word that he used -- Ch***** -- when referred to a Hindi dictionary means stupid.

Playing down the gravity of his remark and instead claiming conspiracy, Raut said that the police action upon him was an attempt to pressurise him. An FIR was filed by Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj, national general secretary of the BJP Mahila Morcha, at the Delhi's Mandawali Police station on December 9.

The FIR alleged that Raut, in his interviews to two Marathi news channels on the same day, tendered threats against the life and limb of BJP political workers and also called them Ch***** and further claimed that they are doing Ch*****giri. Following the complaint, the Delhi Police booked the Shiv Sena MP under Section 500 (defamation) and Section 509 (intending to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.

The BJP Mahila Morcha also claims in the FIR the said remark was not only derogatory to women but also outrages the modesty of the women party workers of the BJP. Raut, however, dismissed the allegations against him as political stunt and questioned why no FIR was lodged when BJP leaders were heard using the same word in the past.

Calling the case an act of revenge, Raut asked those criticising him to look up in the dictionary for the meaning of the word. The Shiv Sena MP also drew parallels to the Sushant Singh Rajput case where Patna Police had registered a case on the death of the actor in Mumbai.