Posters calling for boycott of Muslim traders up in Ghaziabad, 1 detained

The Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad held a protest outside the Nandgram police station after a man was detained for allegedly putting up the posters

The members of several Hindu hardline outfits on Monday staged a protest outside the Nandgram police station in Ghaziabad while reciting the Hanuman Chalisa after the police picked up one of their members for allegedly putting up banners and posters, calling for the boycott of Muslim traders, late Sunday night.

Bajrang Dal members protest outside Nandgram police station in Ghaziabad on Monday. (HT Photo)

The police said several banners and posters were put up in Nandgram locality near Atal Chowk, Maharana Pratap Chowk and also near a farm house. They added that the posters read, “Samaan bhai se khareede, bhaijaan se nahi (purchase items from bhai (Hindu honorific) and not from bhaijaan (Muslim honorific))”.

The police suspect that the banners and posters are a fallout of the communal violence in Haryana’s Nuh alst week. On August 2, members of Hindu outfits Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal took out marches in Ghaziabad to protest against the communal clashes in Nuh between groups of Hindus and Muslims, that left six dead and over a 100 injured.

On Sunday, hundreds of people from villages in and around Gurugram in Haryana gathered in large numbers and called for the economic and social boycott of Muslims.

The Ghaziabad police on Monday said they have removed the banners and posters from the Nandgram area and filed two FIRs under stringent Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 153a (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc,), 295 (destruction, damage, or defilement) and 298 (words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings).

The police said the first FIR named one Nitin Chauhan and five to six unnamed others while the second FIR also named Chauhan and several other persons operating social media accounts.

The second FIR was filed under IPC sections 153a, 295a, 298 and the provisions of the Information Technology Act for allegedly circulating\messages online calling for the economic boycott of Muslims.

Both FIRs were filed suo motu by the police on Monday.

“We have filed these FIRs after the posters and banners were put up at several places and also spread on social media. These have been removed as part of maintaining law and order. We have detained one person in this connection for questioning. Our teams are active in the area and keeping a close watch. We will not allow any deterioration of law and order,” said Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police (city).

Neeraj Bajrangi, city convener, Bajrang Dal, said, “The protest was against the detention of a person who was forcibly taken away by the police from his house late Sunday night. We demand the immediate release of the man and also action against police who misbehaved at his house.”

“The posters and banners did not signify any specific community, etc.,” he claimed.

The office bearers of VHP said their supporters were also part of the protest.

“The banners mention no name of any organisation and the person detained by the police should be let off and they should scrap the non-bailable and stringent IPC sections against Nitin Chauhan,” said Alok Garg, city president of the VHP.

The DCP said that the police will look into allegations of misbehaviour by policemen who went to detain Chauhan.