The police on Sunday (August 9, 2026) took into custody Hindutva ideologue T.G. Mohandas for his alleged inflammatory statements made in connection with the youth protest in Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.
Mr. Mohandas, a former head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) State intellectual cell, had stated in a YouTube video that he would have ordered a curfew at the protest site, shot the student protesters and removed the dead bodies to the hospital, if he were in control.
“I will impose a curfew in about a 4-sq-km area around Jantar Mantar. Then I would announce thrice for the crowd to disperse. After that, I will shoot. People will scatter away and run for their lives. Some may die, some may suffer disabilities. Within four hours, the situation will be calm. Then I will collect the bodies and take them to hospitals,” he was heard saying in the video, which led to widespread public uproar.
In another video, he said secular women who take part in protests “enjoy being gangraped.”
“Gangrapes will happen. In this case, there won’t be any complaints as these are people who like being raped. There are women who like being raped, especially leftists, secular, democratic and proletarians. Now if someone dies during this, they will turn the person into a martyr,” he said.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) distanced itself from the statements. K.B. Sreekumar, Saha Prantha Karyavah (South Kerala) of the RSS, said that Mr. Mohandas’s comments on the protests are “his personal thoughts and he is not an RSS official at any level.” The RSS leader said the organisation does not agree with his views and “such views should be condemned in every highest possible manner.”
The videos led to a major public resentment. Youth and student organisations took out protest marches to his house demanding legal action. Leaders of the Students Federation of India and the All India Students Federation filed complaints against him. The delay in police action against him had also stirred up criticism against the State government.
The Thiruvananthapuram City Cyber police had registered a case against Mr. Mohandas under Sections 192 and 353(1)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Section 66 of the Information Technology Act and Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act, related to provocation with intent to cause a riot, publication of statements likely to create fear or alarm, disturbance of public tranquillity and other offences.
A team of police officers of the cyber police had carried out searches at his Mattancherry residence on Sunday afternoon. He would be taken to Thiruvananthapuram, a police officer said.
Published – August 09, 2026 09:17 pm IST
