AAP's Ashish Khetan booked for allegedly hurting religious sentiments

A day after the Aam Aadmi Party tendered an apology for equating the party's 'Youth Manifesto' for Punjab polls with religious books, the police have registered a case against AAP leader Ashish Khetan for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments.

A case under Indian Penal Code section 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) was registered against Khetan at Civil Lines police station in Amritsar on Tuesday night.

The case was registered on the complaint filed by Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, President of All India Sikh Students Federation, Commissioner of Police (Amritsar) Amar Singh Chahal said on Wednesday.

According to the complaint, the AAP leader had hurt the religious sentiments of people by equating the 'Youth Manifesto' with 'Guru Granth Sahib' and other religious books while launching it in Amritsar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (City II) Gaurav Garg said.

The complainant alleged that by using the image of GoldenTemple on the cover page of the manifesto with the party's election symbol of broom superimposed on it, sentiments of people had been hurt.

The police said they were investigating the matter.

On Tuesday, after facing criticism, the AAP tendered an apology, saying it did not intend to "undermine any section of the society".

Khetan in Khanna said the party never "intended to undermine any section, community or any individual". Earlier, Khetan had said the manifesto was "the Bible, Gita and Guru Granth Sahib" for him.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had also attacked AAP, saying it's act amounted to "desecration" of the holy book and sought an apology from AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal.