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Karni Sena chief, 5 others held for bid to hold panchayat
SP(city), Muzaffarnagar, Satyanarayan admitted that six people, including Thakur Shekhar Chauhan were arrested on charges of defying the administration’s order to not hold the panchayat. The panchayat was being organised in Bhoopkheri village in Muzaffarnagar to support the claims that emperor Mihirbhoj was a Kshatriya king and not a Gurjar.
MEERUT National president of Karni Sena Thakur Shekhar Chauhan and five others were arrested for making a futile attempt to organise a panchayat in Bhoopkheri village in Muzaffarnagar to support the claims of his clansmen that emperor Mihirbhoj was a Kshatriya king and not a Gurjar.
The supporters of Karni Sena tried to put up boards of the name of Kshatriya King Maharana Pratap and also wanted to install the statue of a local Hindu warrior Dheer Singh Pundeer who was claimed to be the commander of Hindu King Pritjviraj Chauhan.
SP(city), Muzaffarnagar, Satyanarayan admitted that six people, including Thakur Shekhar Chauhan were arrested on charges of defying the administration’s order to not hold the panchayat.
He said that there was a controversy over Mihirbhoj as both Thakurs and Gurjars claimed that he belonged to their community. “ Today’s incident was a fall-out of the ongoing controversy as members of a community tried to convene a panchayat over the issue and a few of them tried to put up boards of Maharana Pratap’s name without seeking due permission from the administration,” he said.
Additional force including PAC and RAF was deployed in the area and the leaders were prevented from entering the village. Officials told them they would not be allowed to held a panchayat or engage in other activities without seeking permission from the district administration.
A few protestors made a futile attempt to create ruckus but were dispersed by the police and six people, including Thakur Shekhar, were arrested. “Five out of the six arrested are local residents, “ said the SP.
The controversy on emperor Mihirbhoj erupted last year following inauguration of a statue of the king in Noida. He was described as a Gurjar king and the Thakur community objected to this.
A few weeks back, the Gurjars had taken out a march in Saharanpur district, defying imposition of Section 144 of CrPc. Police tried to stop them but couldn’t do much in view of a strong crowd of thousands of people.
Tuesday’s panchayat in Bhoopkheri village was by way of a reply to the Gurjar march but officials didn’t allow it.
A group put up a board with the name of Maharana Pratap outside Bhoopkheri on June 13 which the police removed, but they again installed it the next day. It was again removed and officials warned them to not do so without seeking permission from the administration. A few people again tried to put up the board on Tuesday but police thwarted the attempt.
