Kerala HC stays FIR against NSS leader for protest march

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed the FIR registered against Nair Service Society (NSS) Vice President Sangeet Kumar for leading a protest against a remark made by Assembly Speaker A.N. Shamseer, about Lord Ganesh.

The court ordered an interim stay of the FIR for four weeks in the case, where 1,000 activists of the NSS, under the leadership of Kumar, formed themselves into an "unlawful assembly" on August 2 in the state capital to protest against the Speaker's statements.

Police said that the said yatra was conducted in defiance of the law by raising slogans through microphone sets mounted on vehicles, and caused obstruction to the smooth movement of pedestrians and vehicles on roads.

Police, therefore, *suo motu* registered a crime against Kumar and 1,000 identifiable persons, all office bearers or activists of the NSS.

Kumar accepted the prosecution’s allegations about participating in the yatra but he contended that none of the offences charged against him were attracted.

In his plea, he said that he and NSS activists "peacefully assembled" to mark their voice against the Speaker’s "inflammatory" statement against the deity.

In his address at an event last month, the Speaker said: "Education should promote science because scientific discoveries provide solutions to various issues. However, they (the BJP) are trying to replace scientific facts with myths in textbooks ... According to them, the first example of plastic surgery is Ganesh."

The comment evoked furore from several quarters.