DESCENDANTS OF TIPU SULTAN MOOT DEFAMATION CASE AGAINST MINISTER

The descendants of Tipu Sultan are planning to file a defamation case against BJP leader and Union minister of state for skill development and entrepreneurship Ananth Kumar Hegde for calling the former Mysore ruler a ‘brutal killer’ and ‘mass rapist’.

Hegde tweeted the comments on October 20 in reference to the Karnataka government’s plan to celebrate Tipu Sultan’s birthday on November 10. “Conveyed #KarnatakaGovt NOT to invite me to shameful event of glorifying a person known as brutal killer, wretched fanatic & mass rapist,” he tweeted on Friday.

“These remarks are derogatory and defamatory. I have discussed with other members of the family as well as senior advocates and we are weighing legal options,” said Bakhtiar Shah, a sixth-generation descendant of Tipu’s 13th son Prince Mooniruddin. At present, about 100 descendants of Tipu Sultan live in south Kolkata.

They plan to file a case of defamation under section 499 of the IPC in Calcutta high court.

“I’m joining Bakhtiar Shah in seeking legal action to make the minister apologise for his comments. This unacceptable comment from the Union minister was meant to create divide between Hindus and Muslims. Tipu Sultan fought bravely to save his subjects from the British East India Company. He is a revered freedom fighter,” said Shahid Alam, a member of the board of trustee of the Prince Ghulam Mohammad Wakf Estate, another descendant of the Mysore ruler. Alam is a descendant of Tipu’s eighth son, Prince Subhan Khan.

“The British not only plundered the state of Mysore, but also looted the remarkable library that Tipu Sultan built. Priceless books from the library, including those in Persian and Sanskrit, were initially brought to Kolkata and later sent to London. Tipu fought against those trying to plunder India’s assets. Such baseless insults against him cannot be accepted,” Shahid Alam said.

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