Kerala Police files FIR against Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary for broadcasting 'Jihad flowchart', offending sentiments of Muslims

Kerala Police has filed an FIR against Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary for ‘offending religious beliefs’ on his TV shows via a specious chart where he schooled his viewers on different forms of Jihad while accusing the Muslim community of having launched a conspiracy to divide India into pieces, reports said. According to Chaudhary, who shared the FIR on his Twitter profile, the Kerala Police has booked him under non-bailable sections of the IPC. Quoting the FIR, a report in The Quint said that Chaudhary has been accused of presenting a programme that offends the sentiments Muslim community. The programme named DNA, where Chaudhary made the “insulting” remarks, was aired on 11 March 2020 on Zee News TV. In the programme, Chaudhary claims that “conservative” and “idelogical” jihad are the two main types of jihad. While the first category included “population jihad”, “love jihad”, “land jihad”, “education jihad”, “victim jihad” and “direct jihad”, the second category included “economic jihad”, “history jihad” and “media jihad” among others. Here’s a clip of the five-minute programme:

#DNA : जम्मू, ज़मीन और जेहाद#ZameenJihad @sudhirchaudhary pic.twitter.com/lVqROQguga

— Zee News (@ZeeNews) March 11, 2020

Chaudhary, however, has responded to the FIR by terming it a “Pulitzer” for “reporting the truth” and an award for exposing “inconvenient facts”. He also said that the FIR was a “A clear message for media. If you don’t toe the decades old pseudo-secular line you’ll be behind bars.” 

Here’s my Pulitzer Prize for reporting the truth.Sharing the citation— an FIR filed against me by the Kerala police under nonbailable sections.The award for exposing inconvenient facts.A clear msg for media.If u don’t toe the decades old pseudo-secular line you’ll be behind bars. pic.twitter.com/zV3GvNg2YR

— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) May 7, 2020

He then goes on to add: “This is the price for daring to speak against #ZameenJihad in Jammu, #LoveJihad in Kerala, PFI funding of CAA protests, and for daring to enter Shaheen Bagh. I have all the respect for the law but these tactics won’t stop me. Bring it on! (sic)” The chart, however, was reportedly lifted from a five-year-old Facebook post, according to a NewsLaundry article. “He lifted the flowchart from a Facebook page called “Boycott Halal In India”. He did make the effort to translate it in Hindi, however, if that counts for anything,” the article adds. According to The Wire, the case was registered under Section 295A of the IPC “following a complaint by advocate P Gavas, state secretary of the All India Youth Federation, an organisation affiliated to the Communist Party of India”. According to The Indian Express, Gavas accused Chaudhary of targeting the country’s Muslims through the ‘jihad flow-chart’ in order to “raise religious tensions and create fissures between different communities”.Gavas also pointed to the advisory of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry where guideline 2 (ii) warns against using visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups or which promote communal attitudes, the report said. Section 295A applies on deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. A person can be punished with up to three years in prison, or a fine, or both, under the section.