Four personnel injured as mob attacks police station in Madhya Pradesh over alleged remarks on Prophet Mohammad
The injured include station in-charge Arvind Kunjur and three other personnel who have been admitted to the District Hospital.
At least four police personnel, including an inspector, suffered injuries on Wednesday after a large mob attacked a police station in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district, after the crowd was barred from entering the station to lodge a complaint against a Hindu religious leader for allegedly using derogatory remarks for Prophet Mohammad in Maharashtra’s Nashik.
According to the police, the incident took place at the Kotwali police station late on Wednesday evening when a crowd of people arrived at the station to submit a complaint and soon resorted to stone-pelting. The injured include station in-charge Arvind Kunjur and three other personnel who have been admitted to the District Hospital.
The crowd was protesting the alleged inflammatory remarks made against Prophet Mohammad and Islam by Ramgiri Maharaj, head of the Maharashtra-based Sadguru Gangagiri Maharaj Sansthan, last week at Shah Panchale village in Sinnar taluk of Nashik district during a seven day-long religious event that concluded on August 17. A clip from the event went viral on the internet this week.
Multiple FIRs have already been registered against Mr. Maharaj in various districts of Maharashtra such as Thane and Pune, under many Sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) such as 302 (uttering words with intent to wound religious feelings), 192 (provocation with intent to cause riot), among others.
Various videos of the incident in Chhatarpur also appeared on social media, which police personnel and other officials taking cover and closing the gates of the station as stones fall in the premises. Some videos also showed nearly 500 people gathered outside the police station. The police also fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob.
Chhatarpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Agam Jain said that more than 150 people have been booked under serious charges over the incident and that they are being identified and nabbed.
“Members of a particular community came to give a memorandum at the Kotwali police station. They were assured that time but some miscreants turned to stone-pelting which was brought under control by the police,” he said, in a video message.
When contacted, Mr. Jain, who was at the hospital, said that the situation was under control now.
The police have already detained more than 30 suspects.
After the incident, the police also carried out a flag march with senior officers, including Mr. Jain, District Collector Parth Jaiswal, and Chhatarpur Range’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Lalit Shakyawar, in the city. Heavy force has also been deployed in the area.
Mr. Shakyawar, speaking to reporters, said that the police are also analysing various CCTV footages and viral videos to identify the suspects.
Earlier, Mr. Maharaj has said that the matter was being sensationalised and that a part of the one-and-a-half-hour event’s video was trimmed and made viral.
“I raised my concern over the atrocities Hindus are facing in Bangladesh. I only said that if we are not careful, similar incidents can occur in India as well. I said so referring to Bangladesh and their culture of marriage as practised in Islam. The only motive was that Hindus should unite,” he had said, speaking to The Hindu.
Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that he has directed officials to identify the accused and take strict action against them so that such an incident is not repeated in the future.
“Madhya Pradesh is a ‘State of Peace’, anyone taking the law into their own hands in a planned manner will not be tolerated at all. I have given clear instructions to the senior police officials to identify the culprits quickly and take strict action against them so that such incidents do not recur in the future. It is our priority to maintain peace and harmony in the state,” he said on X late night.
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