Six held for forcing Muslim man to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' in Kanpur; three released on bail, says police
A one-minute video of the incident surfaced on social media, in which 45-year-old Asrar Ahmad is seen being thrashed by some men, who asked him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram'
A screengrab of the Muslim man assualted in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur. ANI
Six people, including one having affiliation to the Vishva Hindu Parishad, were arrested for allegedly thrashing a Muslim e-rickshaw driver here and asking him to chant "Jai Shri Ram", police said on Friday.
Three arrested on Thursday night were released on bail by police. The other three, who were held on Friday, are still in police custody.
Following the arrests, as per The Quint, some workers from the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal staged protests outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) in Kanpur. They left only after the police promised to conduct a fair investigation.
But they reportedly warned that they would return if those arrested were not released soon, according to NDTV.
The incident had taken place at the Kacchi Basti locality in the Barra area of Kanpur on Wednesday.
A one-minute video of the incident surfaced on social media, in which 45-year-old Asrar Ahmad is seen being thrashed by some men, who asked him to chant "Jai Shri Ram".
Ahmed's daughter is seen trying to save her father, crying and asking the attackers not to beat him up.
Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Arun said the three men were arrested on Thursday night. One of the arrested, Aman Gupta, has affiliation to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), police said.
Besides Gupta, the two others arrested are Rajesh, alias Jay, and Rahul.
The accused are aged between 25 and 30. They are residents of the Barra area.
Asim Arun said the victim was saved by police, who brought him to the police station.
On the basis of a complaint by the victim, a case was registered against the people seen assaulting him in the video.
DCP (South) Raveena Tyagi told PTI, "Once the viral video came to our notice, we took cognisance and registered an FIR under relevant sections of the IPC. Several teams were formed to identify and arrest the culprits," she added.
After the arrests were made, some people associated with Hindu outfits sat on a dharna outside the DCP office on Thursday night.
They left after police convinced them to end their sit-in.
With inputs from PTI
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