The police in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district have arrested two men for threatening a Muslim scrap dealer to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and forcing him to leave the village, PTI reported on Sunday.
In a video of the incident that went viral on social media, two men could be seen manhandling the scrap dealer and forcing him to chant “Jai Shri Ram”, NDTV reported.
“How dare you are doing business in our village,” one of the men tells the scrap dealer. “Chant Jai Shri Ram.” At this point, another person joins in and says: “What’s the harm in saying Jai Shri Ram?”
“The incident happened on Saturday when scrap dealer Abdul Rasheed, a resident of Mahidpur town who has been doing this business here for a long time, went to Sikli village under Jharda police station area to collect some scrap in his mini truck,” RK Rai, Sub Divisional Officer of Police in Mahidpur town, told PTI.
Jharda police station in-charge Vikram Singh Ivne said that the two arrested men have been identified as Kamal Singh (22) and Ishwar Singh (27).
The two have been booked under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 505(2) (public mischief) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt).
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader Kamal Nath criticised the government for being a “silent spectator” even as multiple incidents of assault on Muslim citizens were taking place in the state.
“After Indore and Devas, now the incident in Mahidpur of Ujjain,” Nath tweeted. “Who are these people who are are destroying our Ganga-Jamuni [shared culture] tradition and brotherhood? It seems like this is being done as part of an agenda.”
Last Sunday, a Muslim bangle seller was assaulted by a group of men in Indore for selling his wares in a “Hindu area”. A widely shared video of the incident showed the man being beaten up while some in the mob were also seen taking money out of his pockets.
Later, the vendor was himself arrested on charges of sexual harassment.
Then on Friday, a Muslim hawker was allegedly beaten up by two unidentified people in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh after he failed to show his Aadhaar card.
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