Two Notable South Asian Atheists Face Blasphemy Charges in Their Countries

[muriel_volestrangler]

Babu Gogineni, a former director of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), is kind of like India’s James Randi. He’s known for appearing in the media and debunking charlatans. Last year, in a clip that went viral, he debunked two “pranic healers” who said energy could heal your body and that they could cure your problems over the phone.

The case was registered under Sections 121 (Waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India), 124a (Sedition), 153a (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 153b (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 292 (Obscenity), 293 (Sale, etc, of obscene objects to young person), 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 406 (Criminal breach of trust), 420 (Cheating), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 505 (Statements conducing public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
...
Speaking on the panel, Veera claimed that he had submitted video footage of Babu’s speeches criticising Hindu ‘traditions’ in speeches made abroad.

“Freedom of speech is there, but it should not hurt the sentiments of believers,” he claimed.

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Gogineni hasn’t been arrested yet, and that’s for a rather interesting reason. For the past month, he’s been locked up in a house filming the local version of Big Brother called Bigg Boss Telugu 2. (Telugu is the local language.) That means these charges are coming against him and he can’t even defend himself. Even worse, he likely has no idea what’s happening since the show requires contestants to be isolated from the rest of the world.
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The other person in trouble right now is Pakistani activist Gulalai Ismail, whose work with a group called Aware Girls has been all about promoting women’s rights and peace. (The horror.)

… Gulalai and Aware Girls have faced a campaign of defamation accusing Gulalai of “blasphemy” and the organization of undertaking “immoral” activities.

Details on what she did “wrong” are hard to come by… probably because she did nothing wrong. Some people just can’t handle anyone working to advance women’s rights in a country where women are oppressed.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2018/07/22/two-notable-south-asian-atheists-face-blasphemy-charges-in-their-countries/

Blasphemy laws get used by religious-based political parties to keep themselves able to oppress others, and fool the gullible.

[Cartoonist]

1. Coming to America

Shudder😨

[struggle4progress]

2. Babu Gogineni to come out of Bigg Boss house because of police case?

By Telugu360 -July 19, 2018

In Bigg Boss season 1, Mumaith Khan had to come out of the house to attend police investigation during drug charges on tollywood. It seems now Babu Gogineni also facing similar fate.

It is known news that police case has been filed on Babu Gogineni on various charges including sending sensitive Aadhar data of citizens to outside the country ( https://www.telugu360.com/police-case-filed-on-babu-gogine ). Police case was filed against Babu Gogineni in the month of June after a person complained in Madhapur police station that he and his institutes are collecting Aadhaar numbers and personal details of people by organizing events and providing the data to the website of South Asian Humanist Association which is hosted in Malaysia ...

https://www.telugu360.com/babu-gogineni-to-come-out-of-bigg-boss-house-because-of-police-case/

[struggle4progress]

3. Telangana will have tough time justifying move to extern Mahesh Kathi

Not only were the procedural safeguards violated, but there was no evidence to prove the film critic was dangerous to society.
Saurav Datta
Saturday, July 14, 2018 - 11:58

Film critic Mahesh Kathi finds himself in the unenviable position of having been externed from his home city of Hyderabad for six months, even though he has no criminal record. His only wrongdoing, according to the Telangana Police, was that he expressed his views on the Ramayana with candour while speaking on a debate in a Telugu news channel.

The debate was on a recent sedition case filed against rationalist and humanist Babu Gogineni, and Mahesh, a Dalit, was merely standing up for Gogineni, who had also, incidentally, critiqued the epic.

The police have said on record that it was ‘necessary’ to extern him, and justified their move that his brash comments have hurt religious sentiments on multiple occasions, and have the potential to ‘detrimentally’ affect the ‘even tempo of life’.

Telangana DGP, Mahender Reddy, has squarely put the blame on Mahesh because members of various Hindutva groups took out protests against his comments. Judging by the settled principles of law on the subject of externment, the police’s action appears to be prima facie ham fisted, and against the law ...

https://www.telugu360.com/paripoornananda-slams-babu-gogineni-alleges-violation-of-constitution/

[struggle4progress]

4. Paripoornananda slams Babu Gogineni, alleges violation of constitution

By Telugu360 -July 10, 2018

Swami Paripoornananda, the head of Sri Peetham, is still under house arrest. It is known news that he planned to do Dharmic Yatra in protest of Kathi Mahesh comments. However, now Swami slammed Babu Gogineni too and said, Babu is violating constitution.

He opined, in the name of freedom of speech, nobody should hurt the sentiments and emotions of people. He told, doing so is a constitutional violation. He added, Babu Gogineni is inspiration for all these people who are making demeaning comments on religion and so he also should be punished as he is doing a constitutional breach.

But even though Swami Paripoornananda comments on Kathi Mahesh hold water as Kathi Mahesh crossed the limits, his comments on Babu Gogineni seem to be not valid. Babu Gogineni revealed he is an atheist and as per constitution, he has the right to be an atheist. Moreover, as per Indian Constitution, article 51A, “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform” is a fundamental duty of every Indian. So, if we go by this article, Babu Gogineni is actually following constitution rather than violating it ...

https://www.telugu360.com/paripoornananda-slams-babu-gogineni-alleges-violation-of-constitution/

[struggle4progress]

5. Arrest Kathi Mahesh: Paripoornananda

TIRUPATI, JULY 03, 2018 00:00 IST
UPDATED: JULY 03, 2018 05:16 IST

Taking a serious exception to the recent statements allegedly made by film critic Kathi Mahesh against Lord Rama, Sri Peetam (Kakinada) pontiff Swami Paripoornananda demanded that the State government issue an arrest warrant against the former and take him into custody for hurting the sentiments of the Hindus.

Speaking to the media here on Monday, Swami Paripoornananda said both theists and atheists should respect the Constitution and behave responsibly in society, with mutual respect towards individual beliefs.

“Just because one has ‘freedom of speech’, one should not go on making absurd statements hurting the sentiments of certain sections of society,” he said ...

https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/arrest-kathi-mahesh-paripoornananda/article24316223.ece

[struggle4progress]

6. Babu Gogineni Booked Under 13 Sections

Jun 26, 2018

... The complainant alleged that Babu Gogineni's comments on social media over a particular section has been creating a lot of difficulties, challenges to the particular community living abroad. It is alleged that Babu Gogineni had been conducting several 'unauthorized' meetings and had been 'collecting' Aadhar card information and details from the people in an 'unauthorized' way.

One complainant Narayana has approached the court to take action against Babu Gogineni. He has moved the court to 'remove' the videos of Babu Gogineni and his 'objectionable' speeches. The complainant alleged that the 'provoking' comments of Babu Gogineni are resulting in the 'physical attacks' against a community living overseas ...

http://www.gulte.com/news/67578/Babu-Gogineni-Booked-Under-13-Sections

[struggle4progress]

7. Will Big Boss Season 2 be a snooze?

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | SASHIDHAR ADIVI
Published Jun 12, 2018, 1:21 am IST

... Season 2 of the Telugu version of Bigg Boss kicked off with a two-hour episode in which host Nani introduced the contestants for the season. But it didn’t manage to live up to its hype.

Audiences are disappointed with the line-up and they are airing their misgivings on social media. They are saying that neither do the contestants have any appeal nor is there any buzz surrounding them ...

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/tollywood/120618/will-big-boss-season-2-be-a-snooze.html

[struggle4progress]

8. Priest and film critic patch up after 'exile' from Hyderabad

S. Rama Krishna
Updated : July 14, 2018, 6:42 PM

Sri Paripoornananda Swami, head of Sri Peetham, a Hindu muth at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Kathi Mahesh, a film critic and Dalit activist, who were externed from Hyderabad by the police on 9 and 10 July on the grounds that they were creating law and order problems and causing religious disharmony, have patched up their differences and extended solidarity with each other.

The police in both Telangana and Andhra have heaved a sigh of relief after both of them softened on an issue which threatened to cause major public unrest.

Swami crossed swords with Mahesh over the latter’s remarks against Ramayana and Lord Rama, first on social media and then on some local TV news channels. Mahesh, who claims to be a rationalist, was responding last week to another rationalist, Babu Gogineni’s social media postings that Lord Rama was not worth emulating by the present generation on the ground that he represented feudal and undemocratic value systems. Going a step beyond, Mahesh, a leading Telugu film critic, dubbed Sri Rama as anti-women.

In a social media post last week, Mahesh said that Sri Rama’s behaviour with his wife Sita was “condemnable” and “autocratic”. Mahesh also said that Sita would have been happier with Ravana, instead of living with Lord Sri Rama. These Facebook comments were picked up by a Telugu TV channel last weekend, triggering massive upheaval from Hindu groups ...

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/priest-film-critic-patch-exile-hyderabad