Non-bailable warrants issued against Ramdev

YOGA GURU HAD SAID IN ROHTAK THAT HE COULD “BEHEAD LAKHS OF PEOPLE REFUSING TO CHANT BHARAT MATA KI JAI IF HE WEREN’T BOUND BY LAW”

ROHTAK: A local court issued nonbailable warrants against yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday in a case over his year-old remark about beheading.

The order follows Ramdev’s failure to appear before the court for the second time.

Ramdev was summoned under Sections 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the IPC for saying he could “behead lakhs of people refusing to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai if he weren’t bound by the law”.

His reference to murder came during a speech at an RSS-backed Sadbhawana Sammelan held to promote peace in Rohtak after the Jat quota stir claimed 30 lives in clashes in Haryana in February 2016.

Ramdev was responding to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who said he would not chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai “even if a knife is put to his throat”.

A day later, former home minister and senior Congress leader Subhash Batra lodged a complaint and then moved court after the police did not register a case.

On Wednesday, additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) Harish Goyal set August 3 as the next hearing.