The Bijnor police in Uttar Pradesh arrested one more person following an outcry in connection with a viral video showing a Muslim family harassed by a Holi-playing group in the Dhampur area.
Suraj Verma was arrested following allegations of harassment. Earlier, the police had arrested one named Annu Shishupal Verma and three minors were taken into custody.
A case has been registered under sections 147 (Punishment for rioting), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 354 (Assault or criminal force to a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.
A Muslim family consisting of a man and two women, one being elderly, were on their way to the pharmacy in their two-wheeler when the group intercepted them.
The group poured coloured water on the women and blackened the face of the man and the elderly woman of the family without their consent.
As they protested, the men argued that Holi was an ancient festival. “Main Bazaar mein ayio tho yehi hoga (If you come to the Main Bazaar, this is what will happen),” one of them is heard saying.
Incidents have come out where Holi-playing groups target Muslim women by splashing water balloons and forcefully smearing colour without their consent.
In one such video, a woman who was running high fever was made a target. The woman’s hijab and her caregiver’s clothes were soaked with water.
In another video, a group, mostly minors, poured a bucket full of water on two Muslim women and a child.
All these incidents are from Dhampur, Bijnor district.
