Malayalam writer and theatre activist Kamal C Chavara was on Sunday detained by the Kozhikode police over a case of insulting the national anthem registered by the police in Karunagapally.



The case pertains to a Facebook post by the writer with an excerpt from his book Smashanangalude Notepusthakam.’



The activists of the BJP’s Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha had filed a complaint against the writer over the ‘offensive’ tone in which the national anthem was discussed in the book’s excerpt.



E P Prithvirajan, Assistant Commissioner, Kozhikode North, told DH that the writer was detained by Nadakkavu police based on information passed by Karunagapally police.



“A case under IPC Section 124 A (sedition) has already been registered. He will be handed over to Karunagapally police,” the officer said.



The writer lives in Kozhikode. His arrest will be recorded after he is handed over to the police in Kollam.



On December 15, Kamal had written on his Facebook page about a police raid at his family home in Kollam in connection with the complaint. “My ailing parents were harassed and bookshelves were broken to seize what the police called evidence,” his Facebook post said. A day later, the writer posted on Facebook that he would not retract what he had written.



Kamal’s detention comes on a day when an eminent writer T Padmanabhan made a sarcastic reference to efforts by certain groups to impose nationalism.



“I wonder where could I get a card that certifies my love for the nation,” Padmanabhan said at a public event.