The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday filed cases against 13 people associated with the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha for shooting at an effigy of Mahatma Gandhi to mark his 71st death anniversary, PTI reported. Police said no arrests have been made till now.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Aligarh) Akash Kulhary said workers of the Hindu Mahasabha had fired at the effigy of Gandhi at a house in Naurangabad locality of Aligarh on Wednesday.
Kulhary said a video clip of the shooting incident went viral on social media, following which police filed cases against 13 people associated with the Hindu Mahasabha, including Puja Shakun Pandey, the national secretary of the Hindutva organisation.
The organisation had recreated Gandhi’s assassination and celebrated the day as “Shaurya Divas”, or Bravery Day. In a video shared on social media, Pandey, dressed in saffron, is seen aiming a toy gun at the effigy of Gandhi. After she “shoots at” the effigy, a red-coloured liquid is seen flowing from the effigy.
Hindu Mahasabha workers had also garlanded a statue of Nathuram Godse, who had shot Gandhi dead in Delhi on January 30, 1948. The Hindutva outfit has held Gandhi responsible for India’s partition. Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were executed on November 15, 1949.
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