The accused have been charged with promoting enmity on the grounds of religion, engaging in malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, and disobeying orders duly promulgated by a public servant. (Representational Image)
Police in Prayagraj district on Monday arrested three villagers, and lodged a case against them and three more men for putting up barricades and a poster saying Muslims were not allowed to enter the village.
According to the police, the poster was put up in Dusauti village in the Handiya police station area on Sunday, three days after a young man in a neighbouring village tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Seventy per cent of Dusauti’s residents are Hindus, while half the population in the nearby village are from the majority community.
After a photograph of the poster went viral, the police went to the village to gather details of the six men seen in it. The District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police in Prayagraj also visited the village on Monday morning.
Three of those in the photograph, identified as Sanjay Kumar, Ashwani Pandey, and Shiv Baba, were arrested from their homes. All of them are in their twenties. Handiya Station House Officer Sunil Kumar said a local court sent them to judicial custody later in the day. The police are looking for the other accused.
The poster has been removed, according to Handiya Circle Officer Majid Absar.
“The youths put up barricades on the road that leads to a neighbouring village. They later pasted the controversial poster over the barricading, which read that people of Muslim community were not allowed to enter the village. Someone in the village clicked the photograph and circulated it on social media,” village head Basant Lal, whose role is also being investigated, told The Indian Express. He added that the residents of his village had got scared after hearing about the positive test report.
The accused have been charged with promoting enmity on the grounds of religion, engaging in malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, and disobeying orders duly promulgated by a public servant.
Village head booked for inviting people to mother’s terhvi
Police in Ayodhya district have booked the former head of Monapur village for allegedly inviting a large number of people to his home for his mother’s terhvi (the final day of mourning and prayers for someone who has died).
The police went to the village after coming to know that tents were being set up near Jagan Nath Yadav’s and arrangements were being made for a feast.
Patranga Station House Officer Santosh Singh said the day before the police had warned Yadav not to invite a large number of people. “On getting to know tents are being erected, we rushed to the spot and brought them down. We also got FIR lodged against Jagan Nath for violating lockdown orders,” Singh added.
The former village chief, however, was not arrested. He has been charged under IPC sections 188 and 269 (negligent acts likely to spread infection of disease, and posing danger to life), the Epidemic Disease Act, and the Disaster Management Act.