New Delhi: A city court on Monday directed the Delhi police to register an FIR against Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh for allegedly making “vulgar” statements against Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Jawaharlal Nehru in a blog in 2016.

The court’s direction came on a complaint seeking lodging of an FIR against Ashutosh for writing a blog with serious allegations against the former leaders to defend an ex-AAP MLA, whose name had cropped up in a sex scandal.

“Easy for attention seeker to stand and point finger towards Mahatma, difficult even for patriotic preacher to rise and achieve greatness like Mahatma,” Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ekta Gauba observed.

The magistrate said that journalist-turned-politician Ashutosh was trying to gain public attention by demeaning the image of Mahatma Gandhi and corrupting the mind of the youngsters.

“Ashutosh has tried to gain public attention by tarnishing the revered image of Gandhiji thereby demeaning his respect in the minds of the people to settle the political scores,” the court said.