Police have arrested two of the 14 people booked for allegedly thrashing a 25-year-old Muslim bangle seller in Banganga area of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, after a video of the incident went viral on social media, said police on Monday.
According to the complaint, Uttar Pradesh resident Taslim Ali was selling bangles in Govind Nagar area on Sunday afternoon when a group of people accosted him, asking him his name and address. Once they learnt his name, they allegedly beat him up. Ali alleged that a First Information Report (FIR) was registered late Sunday evening only after members of his community staged a protest at Banganaga police station over the incident.
The FIR has been registered under section 141 (unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting) 147 (using criminal force), 153- A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 294 (using obscene language) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Indore inspector general of police HN Mishra said, “We registered an FIR only after confirming the incident. We will identify the culprits to nab them soon. We also registered a case against the protesters for not maintaining peace.”
Twelve protesters have been booked for creating ruckus at the police station.
Heavy police force has been deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident.
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Home minister Narottam Mishra said, “The man was selling bangles by changing his name. People recovered two Aadhaar cards from his possession with Hindu name on them and thrashed him. But they cannot take law in their hands so we registered a case against them.”
However, the Congress accused the police of harassing the minor community. “Police in MP are harassing minority community members. They register cases against members of the minor community but not on their complaints. The man was beaten up because he is a Muslim. The police registered the case hours after the incident. Now, they should hold an unbiased investigation and arrest the accused soon,” said MP Congress Committee spokesperson Ajay Yadav.
