A Mumbai court has issued summons to Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and executive editor of party mouthpiece Saamna Sanjay Raut asking the duo to appear on August 3 in response to a case filed against them for publishing news which allegedly incited communal tension between two communities.
The summons were issued by a magistrate in suburban Andheri on Thursday.
Munna Tripathi, office bearer of Uttar Bhartiya Vikas Parishad, had filed a complaint against Thackeray and Raut on the basis of a report published in Saamna, which carried the views of the Sena chief asking Hindus to wake up and unite or else outsiders would take advantage.
The impugned report Hindu Log Jage Vya (Wake up Hindus) had focussed on Thackeray's speech delivered at Shanmukhananda hall on the party's 39th anniversary recently.
According to the complainant, the article tended to incite communal passions between two communities and this constituted an offence under IPC.
Hence, he sought action against Thackeray for making such remarks and against Raut for publishing them.
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