Charges laid for anti-hindu comments

THE HEAD of the South African Hindu Dharma Sabha has laid crimen injuria charges against two Chatsworth men for their anti-hindu sentiments.

Ram Maharaj filed charges against a preacher and a reverend at the Chatsworth Police Station.

This after a video on social media sparked outrage when a preacher shared his story of his conversion from Hinduism to Christianity. In his video, he demeaned the Hindu and Muslim faiths. He later retracted the video and issued an apology to the community and all religious bodies.

In the other incident, a reverend is alleged to have made defamatory statements during a church service about the Hindu festival of Kavady.

Maharaj said the purported apologies tendered by both men were acknowledged but not accepted.

“Their vicious attacks on Hinduism were patently premeditated, unprovoked, wilful and unwarranted. They must accept responsibility for their inappropriate actions and face the consequences thereof. No one can escape the law of karma.

“The anti-hindu comments by the two were hurtful, denigratory, incendiary, discriminatory, defamatory and divisive,” said Maharaj.

He said the one person’s statement that Hindus worship idols and worship other gods was devoid of truth and was maliciously misleading.

“The reverend’s deceptive and disingenuous association of spirits and curses with the sacred festival of Kavady is defamatory.

“The statements amounted to hate speech and were in violation of the interests of Hindus and my belief as a Hindu in terms of my dignity.

“The South African criminal justice system must enforce and protect my rights and interests of the Hindu community with regard to the specific offence of crimen injuria,” he said.

Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that Chatsworth police were investigating a case of crimen injuria after comments were made on social media by two spiritual leaders.