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Ghaziabad police to book Hindu Raksha Dal chief under Goonda Act
Police said a notice was sent to Pinky Chaudhary alias Bhupinder Tomar, the national president of far-right saffron group, and a reply will be sought on these two incidents
The Ghaziabad police said they have started the process of booking the chief of right-wing group Hindu Raksha Dal under the Goonda Act and bar him from entering Ghaziabad limits for six months after he allegedly misbehaved with an on duty constable on October 1, and also made derogatory remarks about Hindus a day later.
Police said a notice was sent to Pinky Chaudhary alias Bhupinder Tomar, the national president of far-right saffron group, and a reply will be sought on these two incidents.
Bhaskar Verma, assistant commissioner of police, Sahibabad, said police have started the process of levying the Goonda Act provisions on Chaudhary.
“On October 1, Chaudhary and his supporters misbehaved with an on-duty traffic policemen.A day later he made objectionable remarks over Hindus. In both cases, FIRs were lodged. We have now initiated the process of imposing the provisions of the Goonda Act against him. A notice will soon be sent to him and his reply will also be sought in the matter. Once the provisions are levied, he may be debarred from entering the district for six months,” Verma said.
On October 1, a video surfaced on social media in which Chaudhary, in the presence of his supporters, could purportedly be seen arguing with a traffic policemen and daring him to call chief minister Yogi Adityanath. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the said video.
The police in this connection registered an FIR against Chaudhary and his supporters at Nandgram police station, the ACP said.
A day later they registered another FIR at Shalimar Garden police station after another video emerged on social media, in which Chaudhary could purportedly be seen and heard making objectionable comments about Hindus, police said. Again, HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video
Chaudhary and his outfit first reached the public eye in 2014 when he along with his associates allegedly led an attack on the Aam Aadmi Party’s office in Kaushambi.
Police said Chaudhary, carrying on his Hindutva agenda, then took up a fight against illegal slaughtering of cattle in Ghaziabad’s Sahibabad, which has a sizable Muslim population.
In 2016, he contested the mayoral by-polls of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation as an independent candidate and came fourth.
His outfit again made news in 2020, when it claimed responsibility for the violence on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in January 2020.
Chaudhary, when asked about police booking him under the Goonda Act, said on Wednesday that it he was being targeted over “political intentions”.
“On October 1, the traffic police slapped ₹2,000 fine on a mini-truck driver, who was one of our members, after finding the words “Jai Mata Di” inscribed on his vehicle. They also seized the vehicle. I objected to this but the police booked me as well. Under pressure from our protest, police released the vehicle later. A day later, I simply said that the Hindu community people do not come together on issues such as cow slaughtering. For that, the police registered another FIR against me,” Chaudhary said.
He added that he will take legal recourse on the notice issued to him under the Goonda Act.
ACP Verma said Chaudhary also has a history sheet against him besides the two recent FIRs and these case have become a ground for slapping of the Goonda Act against Chaudhary.
