An FIR has been registered against Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in connection with his remarks about a purification ritual held at a Ramlila ground in Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
The case was registered at Haldwani Kotwali police station in Nainital district on Sunday following a complaint by Amit Kumar, a 26-year-old resident of Jawahar Nagar Colony. Kumar said he belongs to the Scheduled Caste Valmiki community and is associated with a local religious trust.
Haldwani Superintendent of Police (City) Manoj Kumar Katyal confirmed that a case had been registered against Gandhi under relevant legal provisions. Police said an investigation into the allegations is underway.
According to the complaint, Gandhi referred to a cleaning and havan ceremony held at the Ramlila Ground as an act of “untouchability” during a press conference in New Delhi on August 29. The complainant alleged that Gandhi made the statement without checking the circumstances surrounding the ritual.
The complaint claims that Gandhi’s remarks were offensive to members of the Scheduled Caste community and wrongly portrayed the ceremony as an atrocity against them.
The FIR invokes provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Police have also included Sections 196 and 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deal with promoting enmity between groups and deliberate acts that may hurt religious feelings, respectively.
The controversy follows a political dispute over an earlier event in Haldwani. A purification ceremony and havan were reportedly conducted at the Ramlila Ground after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed a party rally there.
The issue quickly became politically sensitive, with Congress leaders questioning the need for such a ritual after the party leader’s programme. Gandhi later criticised the reported ceremony and demanded action under the SC/ST Act.
The Congress has maintained that the incident raises concerns about caste discrimination and the treatment of Scheduled Caste communities. The party has sought clarification over why the purification ritual was conducted after Kharge’s visit.
The latest FIR adds another layer to the political dispute. Police will now examine the complaint, statements and other available evidence before deciding on further action.
The case has also triggered a wider political debate over caste, religious practices and the use of criminal law in political disputes. Any further action against Gandhi will depend on the findings of the ongoing investigation and the evidence collected by Uttarakhand Police.
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