(Image source from: Tushar Gandhi booked for his 'Offensive Remarks' on Bhagat Singh})

A case has been registered against Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, by the Punjab Police for making 'derogatory' comments against revolutionary Bhagat Singh.

Police officials said the case was registered following a complaint by NGO Jan Jagriti Manch, which said Gandhi has been quoted in the media saying that martyr Singh was a "criminal".

"We read his (Tushar Gandhi's) comments in the newspapers regarding martyr Bhagat Singh. He termed Bhagat Singh as a criminal. We felt very hurt and sad about it. We filed a complaint with police which took action," said Jan Jagriti Manch president Krishan Lal Sharma.

SHO Bimal Kant said: "We have registered a case against Tushar Gandhi under section 295-A of the IPC following the complaint. We are investigating the matter." Sharma demanded immediate arrest of Gandhi.

Bhagat Singh was hanged to death on March 23, 1931, on charges of violence against the British government. While Mahatma Gandhi propagated non-violence to fight the British, revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh wanted direct action, including violence, to fight the British rule.

According to a report in the Times of India, Jalandhar police filed the case after Gandhi allegedly said Mahatma Gandhi had not asked for the suspension of Singh's sentence and did not approve of his (Bhagat Singh's) violent acts.

BJP functionary, Krishan Lal Sharma (also chairman of the Jan Jagriti Manch and state convenor of the party's cultural cell) registered an FIR, claiming that Gandhi had branded Singh as a criminal. The case also included complaints from other nationalist organisations to the Commissioner of Police for hurting personal and religious sentiments of people.

According to the report, when asked about how religious sentiments could be hurt, considering that Singh himself was an atheist (in 1930, the legendary master of disguise wrote an essay titled 'Why I am an Atheist' in Lahore Central Jail), ACP north Amneet Kaundal clarified saying that the complaint had hurt people's religious feelings.

- Manohar. M