Week after Ram Navami violence in Una, ‘right activist’ Kajal Hindustani arrested for hate speech

Hindustani allegedly gave the speech at a Ram Navami event on 30 March. She surrendered to police Sunday morning after evading capture for a week.

A file photo of Kajal Hindustani | Photo: Twitter/@Kajal_Jaihind2

New Delhi: A woman who was accused of giving an alleged speech that led to communal clashes on Ram Navami in Gujarat’s Una town has been arrested Sunday. 

After a week of evading capture, Kajal Shingla, who goes by the name Kajal Hindustani, was arrested over the clashes that had broken out in Una in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district on 1 April. According to news reports, she surrendered by the police at 11 am Sunday and has been produced before a local court, which has sent her to judicial custody.  

“Her speech is already out in the public. Therefore, there is no question of remand,” Shripal Sheshma, the superintendent of police for Una is reported to have said in response to why the police didn’t seek her custody.

Hindustani was booked in the case on 2 April under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).

‘Social activist, Pro-India Right’

According to reports, Hindustani is a resident of Jamnagar in Gujarat.  

While her website is currently unavailable, her Twitter handle describes her variously as an “entrepreneur, research analyst, debater, social activist, pro-India Right”. 

Tweets by kajal_jaihind

According to news reports, she also claims to have campaigned for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 General Election.

Hindustani allegedly gave the hate speech at a Ram Navami event held at Una’s Tower Chowk on 30 March.

According to The Indian Express, tensions had built up in the area after her speech and police had called a meeting of  Hindus and Muslims on 1 April. 

But the meeting took an ugly turn after there were heated exchanges in the presence of police officers, the paper reported, adding that a mob of over 200 engaged in violence and stone pelting soon after. 

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)