Thakur Chandan Kumar Singh, a criminal lawyer from Bihar, has filed a complaint against textiles minister Smriti Irani before the chief judicial magistrate of the Sitamarhi district in the state. Singh is suing Irani for sedition and outraging the modesty of a woman, among other sections of the Indian Penal Code, for her comment reportedly comparing the act of visiting Sabarimala with that of carrying blood-soaked sanitary napkins to a friend's house.
Irani has claimed that her comment was twisted out of context.
Speaking to HuffPost India, Singh said that he lodged his complaint against Irani under the following sections of the IPC: Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy to commit offence punishable with death), 124A (sedition), 353 (deterring public servant from discharge of duty) and 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman).
"What she has said is utterly shameful. How do you think women feel when someone sitting in the government terms them unholy or dirty? If these women cannot be allowed to enter Sabarimala, then women shouldn't also be allowed to Kali temple, Durga temple, Hanumanji temple also. It is an insult to women, what she has said," Singh told HuffPost India from Sitamarhi.
On being asked how Irani's comments amounts to sedition, Singh pointed at the 'hooliganism' happening in the name of protests at Sabarimala. "There are hooligans and trouble mongers throwing stones at people and roaming the streets with lathi. What is this hooliganism in the name of religion? And neither the government nor Narendra Modi ji is saying anything against the violence happening there. Instead of arresting these goons, Smriti Irani is making such comments that will embolden these goons," he said.
He alleged that Irani's comments about Sabarimala were an attack on the verdict of the Supreme Court and against the idea of democracy, therefore, making them seditious.
The son of a school-teacher father and homemaker mother, 34-year-old Singh has been prolific in filing cases against people, and 'gods'. In January 2016, the LLB graduate from Bihar University filed a case against the Hindu deity Ram and accused him of domestic violence.
Singh told HuffPost India that consequently, 11 FIRs have been filed against him, including some in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. He said that he cannot attend most hearings because he doesn't have money to travel to so many places, but that doesn't mean he will retract his case or his comments.
"You tell me, if on this day, a man throws his wife out of his house and makes her live in a forest with no support, will he be spared? He won't be spared. And not only that, he suspected Sita of adultery and tested her for it. This is wrong," he said.
What was Singh hoping to get out of 'suing' 'Lord Ram'?
He doesn't have a clear answer, saying that it was his job to protest against atrocities no matter who the person is. The case was dismissed because Singh couldn't provide the exact time and place for the incidents of violence he alleged Ram had inflicted on Sita.
Singh, strangely, says he is a devotee of Ram and said that Hinduism has now become a political issue, and is no more about faith. "Ayodhya or Lord Ram is not about faith for the BJP, it is a political pawn," Singh said, adding that Hindus will have to unite to fight against adharm. Singh said that while BJP makes lofty claims about being Hindus, their party workers are not committed to the religion.
"The UP CM's close aide called Sita a test-tube baby! How can he say that. What did BJP do about him?" Singh said.
He has also filed cases against Farooq Abdullah, whom he alleges said that the entire country's army cannot erase terrorism from India, and Hardik Patel.
Singh had also contested as an independent candidate in the Bihar assembly polls in 2016.
What does Singh hope to achieve by suing Irani?
"I want the authorities to take notice and identify the goons blocking the passage of women to Sabarimala and file FIRs against each of them. If I could identify them, I would do it myself, but it is the government's job," Singh said.