Padmaavat violence: No Muslim among those arrested for violence, clarifies Gurgaon police

Police said a majority of the protesters were from the Rajput and other communities and they are among those arrested and detained by police.

Dispelling rumours that Muslims were among those arrested for Bhondsi violence, Gurgaon police on Friday clarified that no people from the community was either arrested or involved in the violence on Wednesday.

A Haryana Roadways bus was set on fire on Wednesday near Bhondsi in Gurgaon allegedly by activists of the Shri Karni Sena, who have been protesting against the release of film ‘Padmaavat’. (HT PHOTO)

Police said a majority of the protesters were from the Rajput and other communities and they are among those arrested and detained by police.

Police said t the protesters were from varied backgrounds and some juveniles who were detained are school students. The other who took part in the protest were businessmen, farmers, a man who claimed to be working as a model and actor, and a politician who is now dabbling in activism.

As far as the arrest or involvement of persons from a minority community was concerned, the city police responded in the negative after social media sites went agog with such messages.

The police said: “It is to bring to your notice that no member of the Muslim community has been detained/arrested by Gurugram police in connection with Bhondsi violence or anywhere else.” The police’s tweet put an end to rumour-mongering on the social media.

A check into the background of those arrested by the police reveals that 20 men are from Rajput community, two men from backward communities and two men from the Scheduled Caste. Among those detained included nine Rajputs and two brahmins and two from other backward castes.

Those arrested are from Bhondsi village, Garhi Harsaru, Barha, Medhawas, Wazirpur, Bhimgarh Kheri and a few from Rewari district as well.

A number of juveniles were detained by the police from Bhondsi and local residents claimed that these boys were innocent and have been arrested by the police just to “increase the number of arrests. The villagers claimed that some of the children picked up by police were coming back from school after it closed for the day.

Relatives of one of the men taken into preventive custody from Sector 14 said he had come to distribute invitation cards as there was a marriage in the family and had been wrongly detained.

“He had nothing to do with the agitation,” villagers claimed.