Police complaint against Bengali poet for hurting ‘Hindu beliefs’

Kolkata, March 21 (IANS) A police complaint has been lodged against eminent Bengali poet Srijato Bandyopadhay for posting a 12-line poem on social media that allegedly hurts "Hindu religious beliefs".

Expressing shock over the complaint, the poet said it only showed India is in the "grip of rising intolerance".

The complainant Arnab Sarkar filed a general diary complaint at the Cyber Crime Police Station of northern West Bengal's Siliguri Police Commissionerate on Monday night, demanding Srijato's arrest and exemplary punishment for the post.

"I challenge all intellectuals to also write about the dark sides of other religions," said Sarkar, a resident of Siliguri in Darjeeling district.

A police officer said the higher authorities were being consulted on the complaint.

"A general diary has been lodged in this issue. We are in conversation with the higher authorities regarding the complaint. We might get in touch with the Cyber Crime Department of the Kolkata Police for further investigation," said Arindam Sarkar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Siliguri.

The poem titled "Abhishaap" ("Curse" in English) was posted on Facebook on March 19, the day Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

"It is very shocking. This is happening everywhere. Entire country is in the grip of intolerance. And it is growing," Srijato said, referring to the complaints filed against actor Kamal Haasan for his alleged derogatory remarks on Indian epic 'Mahabharata'.

The poem has generated a lot of reaction on social media, most of which were directed against the metaphoric use of words "condom" and "trishul" (trident) in the last line. The introductory stanza sees the use of the word 'yogi'.

Till Tuesday afternoon, the post (poem) received 7,000 'likes', as many as 1,510 shares and as many comments.

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)