The Aligarh Police on Monday booked Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Pooja Shakun Pandey after she demanded a ban on Friday prayers of Muslims, The Times of India reported.
Pandey had claimed that the weekly congregational prayer by Muslims was a threat to India’s peace and should be stopped. She had also written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding a ban, according to PTI.
On Monday, Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani said that Pandey’s remarks could create tensions in society. A case has been registered against Pandey at the city’s Gandhipark Police Station, Naithani added, according to NDTV.
Pandey has been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 153B (imputation, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 298 (deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
Additional City Magistrate Bahadur Singh also issued a notice to Pandey, asking her to respond to the charge that she was stoking communal tension through her demand.
Pandey said that her demand was a result of the violence that took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur on Friday.
“It was a heartbreaking incident and that’s why I wrote a letter to the president,” Pandey said, according to The Times of India. “It is very unfortunate that the police have registered an FIR against me.”
The violence in Kanpur took place during a shutdown called by the Muslim community against comments made about Prophet Muhammad by Bharatiya Janata Party’s national spokesperson Nupur Sharma. She was suspended from the party on Sunday.
At least 40 persons, including 20 police personnel, sustained injuries during the violence. The police have arrested 24 persons so far.
Previous controversies
In December, Pandey was among the several Hindutva supremacists who were booked after they had called upon Hindus to buy weapons to commit genocide against Muslims during a “dharam sansad”, or religious conclave, held in Haridwar.
In 2019, Pandey was arrested for recreating the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and celebrating the day as “Shaurya Divas”, or Bravery Day.
In videos shared on social media at that time, Pandey was seen aiming a toy gun at the effigy of Gandhi. She was later seen shouting slogans against Gandhi and praising his assassin, Nathuram Godse.
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