Jharkhand BJP chief Babulal Marandi booked for 'derogatory' remarks against Soren family

Jharkhand BJP president Babulal Marandi has been booked for making derogatory and defamatory remarks against Chief Minister Hemant Soren and and his father and JMM chief Shibu Soren, police said.

The FIR was registered under Sections 500, 504, 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code at Kanke police station in Ranchi, said police.

Jharkhand | FIR registered under sections 500, 504, 505 (2) IPC against Jharkhand BJP state president Babulal Marandi at Kanke police station in Ranchi for allegedly making derogatory and defamatory remarks against Soren family including Shibu Soren and CM Hemant Soren. The FIR…

— ANI (@ANI) August 25, 2023

The FIR was registered on 23 August, based on the complaint of JMM worker Sonu Tirkey, a resident of Kanke in Ranchi district, added the police.

In his complaint, Tirkey stated that in a speech published on a Facebook page on 16 August, Marandi made derogatory remarks against Soren family during his Sankalp Yatra for his political benefits and this has hurt his as well as the sentiments of tribals.

Meanwhile, the BJP claimed it was the fourth “government-sponsored case” against Marandi in recent times, with the other three being lodged in Simdega, Latehar and Deoghar.

The BJP said the ruling dispensation was “acting out of desperation” seeing the massive support for Sankalp Yatra.

Marandi, in his speeches made during the yatra, which he commenced on August 17 from the CM’s constituency of Barhait, attacked the father-son duo and the JMM-Congress-RJD government in the state, alleging it “promoted nothing but loot and corruption”.

Marandi will continue the yatra till October 10 in different phases, resolving to “free the state from hunger, corruption and misrule”.

The former chief minister, while hitting out at Soren, also alleged that a “tribal CM looted the tribals the most” and that law and order has deteriorated and development has come to a standstill under the current regime.

With inputs from agencies