Dehradun: Uttarakhand Police booked Hindu Raksha Dal leader Lalit Sharma for threatening the Muslim community by ripping out the unborn children from the womb and killing them.
Days after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary, Vinod Kumar, was allegedly murdered in Bairagiwala village under the Sahaspur police station limits in Dehradun, tensions escalated with reports of riots, large-scale violence, arson, and stone-pelting.
Amid escalated tension and communal clashes, Hindu Raksha Dal president Lalit Sharma demanded that the police kill four Muslims for every Hindu killed.
A video of Sharma and other Hindutva workers making inflammatory remarks has gone viral.
While pointing at the bulldozer that was in the middle of razing down the main accused Imtiaz’s house, Sharma said, “Bulldozers are meant for Muslims, not Hindus.”
“We will even rip the unborn children out of their wombs and kill them,” Sharma was heard saying in the clip. “The Uttarakhand police needs to become like the UP police. Justice here will be bigger than that served for Surya. If one of ours is killed, we will kill four of theirs in retaliation. We won’t spare these people.”
Khoon ka badla khoon
Uttarakhand Bajrang Dal worker Aman Swedia echoed Sharma’s demands, asserting that there should be a funeral procession leaving the accused’s house as well.
“Ek janaza hamare ghar pe aa raha hai, ek janaaza unke bhi ghar jana chahiye. (A funeral procession is coming to our home; one should go to theirs as well),” he said.
“We had already given you Pakistan, why didn’t you go there then? Just because you were granted permission to live in Hindustan, did you start killing Hindus too?” Swedia said.
He added, “Their only goal is for Islam to take over. The Islamic conquest begins with seizing Hindus’ homes, raping Hindu girls, engaging in ‘love jihad,’ and killing Hindus.” He claimed that his community only has one request: “A life for a life.”
Case registered
When contacted, Sahaspur Circle Officer Anuj Kumar said the police registered a case against Sharma after taking cognisance of the viral video.
He made “highly provocative, inflammatory, communal, and derogatory remarks against the Muslim community in front of media representatives and other attendees,” read a first information report (FIR) accessed by Siasat.com.
Sub-Inspector Rajiv Dhariwal reviewed the footage and registered a case under sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), 299 (hurting religious sentiments), and 353 (statements conducing to public mischief) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Vandalism, stone pelting, arson in Bairagiwala
At least 100 to 150 unidentified rioters were booked, and five people were arrested in connection with the arson and stone-pelting, officers said. On Monday, June 15, a day after the alleged murder, the police arrived at the scene to arrest the accused, Imtiaz, to find an “extremely sensitive” environment, with “potential for tension and communal disharmony between the two parties.”
According to Sahaspur Sub-Inspector Manmohan Singh Negi’s FIR, some miscreants in the crowd began shouting slogans against the police, demanding the immediate and unlawful public punishment of the accused.
The rioters reportedly pelted the authorities with stones, resulting in officers being injured. “The riotous mob did not stop there; instead, taking the law into their own hands, they attacked the accused’s residences in separate groups, vandalised their homes, damaged household goods, and set fire to motorcycles and tractors parked outside and on the premises, causing significant financial loss,” the FIR read.
“The arson and vandalism caused extensive damage to the accused’s property, and an atmosphere of fear, terror, and unrest prevailed in the area.” Police subsequently brought the situation under control by using a lathi charge and dispersing the riotous mob.
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