Bihar: Case against Bal, Uddhav, Raj for 'hate' speeches

A case was filed against Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray, party executive president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navanirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for making inflammatory speeches against migrants from Bihar and its people.

Adam Ali, a journalist of Urdu daily 'Quami Tanjeem' filed the case on Thursday in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Sinha charging the Thackerays with making hate speeches against Biharis and other north Indian people that may disrupt peace and communal harmony and fuel regional sentiments in the country.

He also said in his case that Raj Thackeray's statements describing Bihari migrants as infiltrators and demanding issuance of permit to them for visit to Mumbai and Maharashtra amounted to a 'brazen violation' of provisions of the Constitution that allows citizens to move freely and settle down in any part of the country.

Similar petitions have been filed against the Thackerays in Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Nalanda and West Champaran courts besides, in other districts of Bihar over the past few days.

The MNS chief had described the Bihari migrants as infiltrators and threatened to drive them out of Mumbai and Maharashtra following the Bihar government's protest against the arrest of an accused in the Azad Maidan violence from his native Sitamarhi district by the Mumbai police without informing the local administration.

The Shiv Sena patriarch and his son Uddhav had also joined forces with the MNS chief and made comments to deride Bihari  migrants. Udhav Thackeray even demanded issuance of permit to the Biharis for visiting Mumbai and Maharashtra.