Father of minor Kerala boy accused making hate slogans at PFI rally detained
The Kerala government is expected to file a report to the Child Welfare Committee regarding the boy.
FollowThe father of a Kerala youngster has been arrested after he allegedly raised "hate" slogans during a Popular Front of India rally last week. So far, twenty persons have been arrested in connection with the case.
On May 21, a video of an 11-year-old boy sitting on a man's shoulder during a PFI rally and allegedly raising offensive slogans against Hindus and Christians were widely circulated.
Following the uproar, the boy's family fled, hiding in Kerala's Kochi, as per the police. However, the police tracked down the youngster two days after the rally, and his father was arrested on Saturday on his way home to Alappuzha.
The Kerala government is anticipated to file a report to the Child Welfare Committee regarding the boy.
The boy's father stated that they had previously raised identical slogans during protests against the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
"In the past, we've chanted the same slogans. We also had no intention of targeting any particular religion," the boy's father said. "It's a part of our party's activity."
"When I went for the NRC programme, I heard it there and learned it there," the kid responded on questioning him where he learnt the slogan.
"The slogan was solely against Sangh Parivar and not against Hindus or Christians," the boy's father stated. He added that this slogan was also raised during the NRC and CAA rallies.
Child welfare officials have been instructed to provide counselling to the child who allegedly screamed the claimed hate slogans, following the Mattancherry Assistant Commissioner of Police, VG Raveendranath.
Bajrang Dal workers staged a "shaurya rally" in Alappuzha just hours before the PFI demonstration on May 21, raising slogans like "the country cannot be handed over to anti-nationals and communalists."
Last year, within 12 hours, a state leader of the Social Democratic Party of India, the political wing of the PFI, and a state BJP leader were killed in Alappuzha.
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