Sanal Edamaruku, Indian Rationalist Living In Finland, Arrested In Poland After India-Issued Interpol Notice

(MENAFN- Live Mint) A Finland-based Indian activist, Sanal Edamaruku, was reportedly arrested in Poland over an Interpol notice by Indian authorities. Edamaruku is wanted in India on blasphemy charges and has been living in self-imposed exile in Finland since 2012.

According to Rationalist International, a foundation Edamaruku found, he was detained at Warsaw Modlin Airport on 28 March. He was travelling to Poland to attend a human rights conference.

The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs also confirmed to local news agencies that it was aware of his arrest.

The Indian government had issued an Interpol-red notice for Edamaruku and sought his extradition, said the Rationalist International.

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In 2012, Sanal Edamaruku angered the Catholic Church in India after he examined the water dripping from a crucifix and concluded that it was a sewage leak and not some miracle. This led to him being charged with blasphemy.

In 2020, Sanal Edamaruku claimed that his life would be in danger if he returned to India. His organisation also referred to violence and killings that rationalists like him had faced in the country.

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Sanal Edamaraku's LinkedIn profile says he is a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) alumni.

Between April 2008 and January 2012, Sanal was the president of the International Centre for Kathakali in New Delhi. He studied and performed on several Kathakali stages as a student.

Later, he directed plays based on non-traditional themes, including the Nigerian play Shakila and the Finnish epic Kalevala.

Sanal also introduced female roles in Kathi and Pacha styles in Kathakali.

The rationalist worked as a columnist and national political analyst with the Kerala Sabdam group of publications from July 1985 to June 2012. He was also its Bureau Chief between 2006 and 2012.

Sanal Edamaruku also served as the president of the Kerala School in New Delhi from November 2011 to July 2012.

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Since he moved to Finland in 2012 amid the blasphemy charges against him, he began working as a resource person and lecturer at UNESCO -affiliated educational institutions there till December 2013.

He founded the Rationalist International organisation in Finland in December 2013 and has been its President since then.

He is also the president of India's Indian Rationalist Association since July 2005. There, he previously served as the youngest-ever general secretary in 1984.

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