Six Bajrang Dal workers who were arrested for allegedly vandalising Christmas decorations at a shopping mall in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur on December 24 were granted bail by a sessions court on Wednesday, The Indian Express reported on Saturday.
The six men walked out of jail on Thursday and were welcomed by members of the Hindutva group with garlands. The Bajrang Dal members also took out a procession, carrying the six men on their shoulders, and shouting slogans against Christian missionaries.
State coordinator of the Bajrang Dal Rishi Mishra said that there was nothing wrong with organising a procession for those released, The Indian Express reported.
“The entire issue is related to religious conversions by them in Chhattisgarh,” he was quoted as having claimed. “All [Hindutva] groups had decided to call for a bandh but a conspiracy was done and our members were put behind bars. So, slogans will be raised on the subject.”
Videos of the incident posted on social media showed a mob armed with sticks barging into the city’s Magneto Mall on December 24 and destroying Christmas decorations a day ahead of the festival.
The men were arrested in connection with the vandalism on December 27. Two days later, a magistrate court in Raipur had denied bail to them.
A case was filed at the Telibandha Police Station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to trespassing, intentionally causing damage to property, causing hurt, rioting and unlawful assembly.
The vandalisation took place on the day a Hindutva group called for a state-wide strike to protest the allegedly illegal religious conversions in Chhattisgarh. The call for the bandh followed communal clashes on December 16 and 17 over the Christian burial of a person in the Bade Teoda village in the Kanker district.
Fresh violence was reported from the village on December 18 when a mob armed with sticks breached the police barricades and entered the village.
Several other incidents of attacks on Christians or disruptions to Christmas celebrations were also reported in December in the country.
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