Patna: Tensions escalated in Bihar’s Patna district after a student leader, Manish Kumar, burned the Manusmriti during the UGC Regulations protests on Wednesday, March 18.
After the video of the incident circulated, Hindutva leader Madhavlal Kashyap made hate speech comments promising to burn the Quran in every corner of Bihar.
On Wednesday, left-wing and Dalit students staged a protest at Patna College in support of the UGC Equity Regulations 2026.
It was during this protest that Manish Kumar, former president of Patna University Students’ Union, set fire to the Manusmriti on stage.
“This country will run by the Constitution, not by the Manusmriti,” Kumar said while addressing the crowd, as heard in the videos circulating online.
Hindutva leader threatens retaliation
That same day, Madhavlal Kashyap, chief of Hindutva organisation Hindu Swabhiman Bihar, posted a video on his social media account threatening to burn the Quran across Bihar and made derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammed and his companions.
“I want to tell the Bihar Police to arrest Manish Yadav within the next 24 hours. If it’s not done, we will burn the Quran at every crossroads in Bihar,” he said. “Not only that, we will burn effigies of Mohammad, Ali, and Abu Bakar instead of Ravan.”
Case registered
A first information report was subsequently filed in Bihar’s cybercrime police station against Kashyap for making inflammatory content on Facebook. Bihar police deployed a special team to investigate the incident.
According to the press release issued by Nalanda police, they received information on Wednesday regarding a social media post inciting communal hatred and disrupting social harmony.
After reviewing the posts, the police categorised them as serious offenses under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and initiated a probe.
Authorities have taken the said video as evidence and are identifying those involved in sharing and circulating it. There are several criminal cases registered against Kashyap, the release said.
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