Two people have been injured when members of Hindu right-wing groups staged protests at the AUDA Garden in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad against a book-reading session featuring Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai’s memoir and Holocaust victim Anne Frank’s diary, police said on Friday, adding that three of the accused have been arrested.
Group confronted over reading Malala, Anne Frank
The incident comes a few weeks after a private school in Ahmedabad was forced to drop books by Yousafzai and Frank from its mandatory reading list after protests from right-wing groups.
“On Thursday evening, a group had gathered at AUDA Garden for a book-reading session when they were confronted by around 20 people carrying sticks, who said they were associated with the VHP and Bajrang Dal. They questioned the group about reading books by Malala Yousafzai and Anne Frank, following which an altercation took place. Two people sustained minor injuries and three have been arrested,” said Vastrapur police inspector Geeta Chaudhari.
Also read: VHP, Bajrang Dal attack book protesters in Ahmedabad for reading ‘I am Malala’
Group questioned the participants and escalated to assault
According to the FIR, the participants had gathered at the garden around 4pm on Thursday to read Yousafzai’s I Am Malala and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, along with books by other writers.
{{/usCountry}}According to the FIR, the participants had gathered at the garden around 4pm on Thursday to read Yousafzai’s I Am Malala and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, along with books by other writers.
{{/usCountry}}Yousafzai’s book details her early life and an assassination attempt made against her by the Taliban. Frank’s book shares details of her time in hiding during the Nazi occupation.
“Around 6.30pm, a group of men arrived and questioned the participants about reading Yousafzai’s book. The confrontation escalated and some members were assaulted,” said the complaint, registered by one Jaykumar Natvarlal.
It alleged that three of the participants -- Sneh Bhavsar, Savan Zalariya and Shashikumar -- were assaulted, a woman was pulled by her hair and another was slapped.
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20 booked for rioting, unlawful assembly
Based on the complaint, a case has been registered against at least 20 people, including two identified as Hiren Rabari and Jimeet Rabari. The accused have been booked for rioting and unlawful assembly, along with several other sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, said an officer aware of the matter. So far, six people have been identified in the case.
On Thursday, the Bajrang Dal’s Gujarat unit posted on X that it had opposed Yousafzai’s book after it was included in the school’s reading material. “When Bajrang Dal got wind of this Pakistan-supporting mentality, they first tried explaining... but when that didn’t work, they explained it in true Bajrang Dal style,” the post said.
Taking swipe at the incident, Congress leader Pawan Khera said: “Ignorance, with a dash of communalism, is an incurable disease.”