A couple of days ago, Arundhati Roy had made a controversial remark on the National Population Register (NPR) which has become troublesome for here. In a protest rally, the 58-year-old urged people to oppose it by lying in the census. After her statement became a debate, a Supreme Court lawyer on Thursday filed a complaint against her for misleading the citizens.
Trouble for Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy on Wednesday said that when officials come to obtain details for the NPR, people should give them wrong details about their names and address. Arundhati Roy said this while taking part in a protest in New Delhi against the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC.
“The above statement is nothing but a deliberate and hateful act meant to outrage religious feelings of Muslims,” advocate Rajeev Kumar Ranjan said in a complaint.
The advocate filed the accusation against Roy in Delhi’s Tilak Marg police station under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and National Security Act for sins such as mischief, breach of peace, intent to cause a riot and criminal conspiracy.
“I have sought an investigation into the matter and punishment to her so that she learns the lesson and never passes such comments ever again,” Ranjan added.
Roy defends her statement
After all this, the writer came out to defend her remarks on the NPR. Roy said her remarks were misunderstood. “What I was suggesting was civil disobedience with a smile,” she said.
She said her comments on NPR were in reply to “Modi’s lies”. She added that since her comments were mistaken, there have been calls for her arrest. “My question is this: is it ok for the prime minister of this country to lie to us but a criminal offense and a security threat for us people to laugh?” she added.
“I said that as a response to those lies we should collectively enter ridiculous information when they came to gather our data for the NPR. What I was suggesting was civil disobedience with a smile.”
“All the mainstream TV channels that were present have footage of my entire speech. Of course, they did not air any of it. They just excited themselves and everybody else by commenting on it and misrepresenting it and lying about it. This has led to calls for my arrest as well as TV crews laying siege to my home,” she writes in a statement.
