Jantar Mantar hate sloganeering case: Pinky Chaudhary surrenders amid cheers from Hindu Raksha Dal supporters

Pinky Chaudhary, the Hindu Raksha Dal chief, was brought in to the Mandir Marg police station garlanded and on the shoulders of fellow supporters who chanted 'Jai Shree Ram' and 'Pinky Bhaiyya Zindabaad' before his surrender.

Hindu Raksha Dal chief Bhupinder Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary on Tuesday surrendered before the Delhi Police for his alleged involvement in raising hate slogans at Jantar Mantar on August 8. Pinky surrendered at Delhi's Mandir Marg police station and arrived on the shoulders of his supporters who were cheering for him with slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

Pinky Chaudhary surrenders to Delhi Police for his alleged role in chanting communal slogans in Jantar Mantar during a rally on August 8. The Hindu Raksha Dal chief was garlanded and carried on the shoulders of Hindu Raksha Dal supporters as he surrendered to the cops. (Karn Pratap Singh/HT)

Chaudhary was evading arrest after videos surfaced of him and other protesters allegedly shouting communal slogans on August 8. The protesters, however, claim that they demanded the removal of ‘colonial-era’ laws.

‘Will surrender to police’

Pinky on Monday launched a video where he announced that he will surrender to the Delhi Police on Tuesday. He maintained that he and his supporters did not do anything wrong in his video. “I am firm on my point that neither I nor any worker of my organisation did anything wrong at Jantar Mantar. I respect the court. I will get myself arrested tomorrow, on August 31, around 12pm at Connaught Place police station and will cooperate with police during the probe,” Pinky was heard saying in the video, according to a report by HT.

Pinky in his video also said that the allegations against him are ‘false and baseless’. HT could not verify the authenticity of the video.

Uttam Upadhyay, BJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay, Preet Singh, Deepak Singh, Deepak Kumar, Vinod Sharma, Vinit Bajpai and Sushil Tiwari were among the others arrested for allegedly chanting communal slogans and defying Covid-19 protocols along with Pinky. They along with their supporters organised a ‘Bharat Jodo Andolan’ rally, during which activists claim that communal slogans were chanted. Upadhyay, who is also out on bail, continues to maintain that there were no communal chants.