Arrest warrant issued against Delhi publisher

SHILLONG, Feb 26 – Armed with a Court order, a four-member Meghalaya police team would head for Delhi on Saturday to arrest the owner of Skyline Publisher, Ram Mohan Jha.

Jha is accused of “outraging religious feelings” after one of his copy books from his publication house depicted Jesus Christ holding a beer can and a cigarette.

The cursive writing copy book was meant for school students of class I. Concerned parents from a local school first alerted authorities about the “objectionable” depiction of Christ.

The district authorities later registered a case against the Skyline publisher under section 295 A, Indian Penal Code. The district Court here issued an arrest warrant against Jha yesterday.

“Inspector N Thohrem would lead the team to New Delhi along with three others to arrest the publisher of Skyline books,” a police official said here.

Meanwhile, Jha has issued a public apology here stating that the picture of Christ was “erroneously” carried in the copy book after being downloaded from the internet.