Arrested actor granted bail, defends controversial statement

Bengaluru: Actor turned "activist", Chetan Kumar who was arrested on Tuesday after making a controversial remark on "Hindutva" was granted bail on Thursday. Following the bail, he defended his Tweet that Hindutva is built on lies.

On Monday, Chetan tweeted that Hindutva is built on lies.

In the Tweet, he implied that Veer Savarkar's statement about the nation of India beginning when Rama defeated Ravana and returned to Ayodhya was a lie.

In the Tweet, he said that Hindus claimed Babri Masjid as the birthplace of Lord Rama in 1992 and now in 2023, claims of Urigowda and Nanjegowda to be killers of Tipu Sultan is a lie. "Hindutva can be defeated by truth. Truth is equality," he concluded. Following these statements, Chetan was arrested on Tuesday based on a complaint received by a right-wing leader.

Chetan was slapped with IPC Sections 505(2) for statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred, or ill-will between classes and 295(A) for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Chetan's lawyer had applied for a bail for the actor in the 32nd ACMM Court. He was then granted bail by the Judge on a personal bond of Rs. 25,000.

After receiving bail, Chetan spoke to members of the media and said, "Hindutva and the Hindu religion are not the same.

Hindutva refers to a particular social and political ideology which is taking away several rights of the people. Hindutva is built on lies and hatred. So, we will continue questioning Hindutva."

Chetan then tweeted, "Back at home. I thank all equalitarians& freedom of speech upholders for support & well-wishes for a robust democracy, we must have right to express our opinions & even offend w/out violence or hate Fight for equality, justice & rationality continues Jai Karnataka. Jai Bheem."

In the recent past, Chetan had been part of several controversies.

Some of them include insulting the judiciary, supporting students who raised pro-Pakistan slogans, and demanding reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Indian Cricket team. He had also been heavily criticised for saying that the 'Bhootha Kola' tradition portrayed in the movie, 'Kantara' did not belong to Hindu culture.