Edamaruku taking shelter in Finland

Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku has been taking shelter outside India for fear of being arrested back home.

Edamaruku, against whom FIRs were registered for hurting religious sentiments of the Christian community, is reportedly living in Finland for the past six months.

Edamaruku claims that freedom of speech is a Constitutional right of every Indian citizen and he will not apologise for something that he has scientific evidence for. He spoke to CNN-IBN from Finland.

The founder-president of Rationalist International in March this year had claimed that water dripping from a statue of Christ in Mumbai was not God's work but a result of bad plumbing. He also remarked that the Church was using the miracle for making profit.

Catholic groups in Mumbai registered complaints against Edamaruku for "deliberately hurting religious feelings and attempting malicious acts intended to outrage" the Christian community.

FIRs were registered by the Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) and the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum.

"Many allegations he has put on the Catholic community, the church, the bishop and the pope. That is why we have filed the FIR. Now also we are clear that if he apologises to the community, we will withdraw the case or we will strongly recommend his arrest," said Agnelo Fernandes, President of the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum.

Edamaruku's petition for "anticipatory bail" was earlier turned down on the grounds that he would be safer in custody.