Police in Karnataka have arrested actor Chetan Kumar Ahimsa for a tweet criticising Karnataka High Court judge Justice Krishna Dixit, who’s been hearing a case related to the ban on Muslim girls wearing hijab in schools and colleges in the southern Indian state.
Slamming Justice Dixit, Ahimsa had tweeted on 16 February, “This is a tweet I wrote nearly two years ago regarding a Karnataka High Court decision Justice Krishna Dixit made such disturbing comments in a rape case Now this same judge is determining whether #hijabs are acceptable or not in govt schools Does he have the clarity required?”
In his 2020 tweet, the actor-activist had written, “This week KA High Court Justice Krishna Dixit granted pre-arrest bail to rape-accused Rakesh B claiming ‘It is unbecoming of Indian women to sleep after rape; that is not way women react after they are ravished.’ What’s ‘unbecoming’ is 21st c misogyny of this judiciary Dixit fossil.”
This is a tweet I wrote nearly two years ago regarding a Karnataka High Court decision
Justice Krishna Dixit made such disturbing comments in a rape case
Now this same judge is determining whether #hijabs are acceptable or not in govt schools
Does he have the clarity required? pic.twitter.com/Vg8VRXmJTW
— Chetan Kumar Ahimsa / ಚೇತನ್ ಅಹಿಂಸಾ (@ChetanAhimsa) February 16, 2022
According to news agency PTI, M N Anucheth, the Deputy Commissioner of Police of Central Division said in a statement, “Kannada film actor and activist Chetan Ahimsa has been arrested by Bengaluru City Police. An on-its-own FIR was registered on Tuesday and under 505(2) and 504 of the IPC. Based on the tweet, the FIR was registered in Sheshadripuram Police Station.”
A three-judge Bench of the Karnataka High Court has been hearing the hijab case on a daily basis. The high court has already imposed an interim ban on the wearing of hijab by Muslim girls.