The police have arrested Popular Front of India (PFI) leader Yahya Thangal in the provocative sloganeering case. He was taken into custody from Thrissur on Sunday.
Alappuzha Deputy Superintendent of Police N.R. Jayaraj said Mr. Thangal was booked as he was one of the organisers of the PFI rally held in Alappuzha on May 21 where a boy chanted incendiary slogans. Mr. Thangal is a State committee member of the PFI.
On Saturday, Mr. Thangal made derogatory remarks against judges of the Kerala High Court. Officials said that no case had been registered against him for insulting the judiciary as it was up for the court to look into the matter.
The Alappuzha South police have so far arrested 26 PFI men after a video featuring the boy sitting on the shoulder of a man and raising provocative slogans apparently targeting other religions went viral. The arrested include the boy's father Askar Latheef of Palluruthy in Ernakulam. A judge on Sunday remanded Mr. Latheef along with four others, who were arrested on Saturday, in judicial custody.
The arrested were booked under various Sections, including 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code along with Sections 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) and 83 (2) (use of child by militant groups or other adults) of the Juvenile Justice Act.
The child who chanted incendiary slogans said he had learned it while attending protests organised against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
