No charges against Hindu leader

The BJP government in India\'s Rajasthan state has withdrawn a case of treason against a hardline Hindu leader.

Praveen Togadia was arrested at a rally in the city of Ajmer in April 2003 accused of inciting religious hatred.

He is a senior leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) which is closely linked to the BJP.

The BJP says he has no case to answer after legislation passed by the former Congress administration was repealed. Critics have attacked the move.

State Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria told the BBC that Mr Togadia had been \"falsely implicated\" in the case.

He said the government had revoked the ban on tridents imposed by the previous Congress government.

\'Wrong precedent\'

Mr Togadia was alleged to have handed out tridents - a traditional spear-like Hindu symbol - at the rally, in violation of a ban on the possession and distribution of sharp weapons in Rajasthan.

A senior Ajmer police official, Sunil Mathur, said police had not filed charges against Mr Togadia in the absence of permission from the government.

Human rights bodies and Muslim groups have strongly opposed the move and said they will challenge it.

A spokeswoman for the human rights group, People\'s Union for Civil Liberties, said the government\'s move was aimed at creating \"fear\" among the minorities.

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Salim Engineer said the move set a \"wrong precedent\".

\"People know tridents are distributed to propagate hardline Hinduism and terrorise the minority community,\" he said.


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This Salim character can go suck a big wad of pork salami. he is a terrorist!