Baba remark: Two complaints filed against Digvijay

Two separate complaints were on Wednesday filed in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh against Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for allegedly calling Baba Ramdev a 'thug.'

In Hoshiarpur, additional chief judicial magistrate Jaswinder Shimar accepted the complaint seeking registration of a criminal case under Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 500 and 501 (defamation) against Singh.

Advocate Ajay Gupta through his counsel R P Dhir, who is also president of the district bar association, claimed that Singh had hurt the religious sentiments of crores of people in general and Hindus in particular by calling Ramdev as a 'maha thug.'

Digvijay Singh has also lowered the reputation of the yoga guru in the eyes of general public, he alleged. The court has fixed June 15, 2011 as the next date of hearing when evidence of the complainant will be recorded.

Similarly, ACJM Preeti Srivastava in Lucknow registered the complaint against Singh and fixed June 24 for recording the evidence.

Ram Kishore, the Uttar Pradesh unit president of All India Forward Block, in his complaint claimed that Singh's statement against Ramdev has hurt his sentiments.

He requested the court to direct filing of a case against Singh under the relevant sections of the IPC.

On Tuesday, a local lawyer had filed an application seeking direction for registering an FIR against Singh and Congress spokesman Janardan Dwivedi before the chief judicial magistrate court in Lucknow.

Shamsher Yadav Jagrana alleged that the scribe, who waved his shoe at Dwivedi, was beaten in public view. He also alleged that Singh has been making irrelevant statements.