Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut dismisses FIR against him as pressure tactics

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut rejects using objectionable words against women leaders day after Delhi Police filed case against him. He said the move was an attempt to pressurise him. Drawing parallels with the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the Rajya Sabha member said this is similar to the SSR case where Patna Police registered a case about what happened in Mumbai.

New Delhi: A day after the Delhi Police registered a case against him for using objectionable language, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said the move was an "attempt to pressurise" him as the word in question only meant “stupid”.

Raut was booked in Delhi after a BJP leader alleged that he had used abusive language against BJP members in a TV interview and threatened them.

Referring to the FIR, he said in a tweet the word means "stupid" according to Hindi dictionaries. "In spite of this, if a case is registered then it is nothing but an attempt to pressurise me. Some BJP leaders have used more objectionable words against women leaders, haven't heard of such FIR against them," he added.

Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, took exception to the case filed against him by the Delhi Police and sought to draw parallels with the Sushant Singh Rajput case.

"This is similar to the SSR case where Patna Police registered a case about what happened in Mumbai," Raut said.

"Have the hands of the law become so long under this government," the Sena leader asked, referring to the registration of the case in Delhi, where the police is under the control of the union government.

Congress leader Sachin Sawant sought to defend Raut and posted photographs of relevant pages of ‘Abhinav Shabdkosh', a Hindi-Marathi-Hindi dictionary compiled by renowned lexicographer Shripad Joshi and published in 1957.

Officials said the FIR based on a complaint submitted by BJP national general secretary Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj was registered against Raut on December 9 at Mandawali police station.

The FIR was registered under sections 500 (punishment for defamation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC, a senior Delhi police officer said.

PTI