Supreme Court to hear Ashis Nandy's plea against arrest today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will today hear sociologist Ashis Nandy's petition seeking protection from arrest for an alleged anti-Dalit remark he made at the Jaipur Literary Festival earlier this week.

Mr Nandy has also urged the court to quash the FIR registered against him under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act.

At a panel discussion at the literary festival on January 26, Mr Nandy had said: "Most corrupt people come from the Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes."

As his comments caused a furore, he clarified that he was only trying to make the point that corruption among Dalits was noticeable but among the rich it wasn't.

A police complaint was filed against Mr Nandy by a local politician amid criticism from politicians. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati even demanded his arrest. The Rajasthan police had called Mr Nandy to Jaipur for questioning.

Mr Nandy's lawyer has said that the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act has been misused against the sociologist and he did not say anything derogatory.

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