A day after a video showed kanwariyas vandalising a car in Delhi’s Moti Nagar, a video emerged of another group attacking a police car in the town of Bugrasi in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh.
In the clip posted by ANI, the pilgrims can be seen smashing the windows of a police van following an altercation with locals on August 7. According to reports, an FIR was registered against eight named and 50 unidentified people under IPC sections for rioting, armed with deadly weapon, and voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servants from duty.
While the station officer who was at the scene and filed the FIR said kanwariyas were among the attackers, the Bulandshahr SSP and SP claimed they were not involved, the Indian Express reported.
The acts of vandalism seem to be becoming dangerously frequent in the state, with an incident similar to the one in the capital being reported in Muzaffarnagar, where another car was vandalised on Thursday. This time too, the attack was prompted by an argument between the passengers in the car and the group of pilgrims when the vehicle brushed past them on the street.
Far from reining in the people creating trouble on the streets, the police in UP have been instructed to, of all things, shower rose petals on the so-called pilgrims. As a video showed a Uttar Pradesh police officer doing this from a helicopter. The Free Press Journal reported that the officer, Additional Director General of UP Police (Meerut Zone) Prashant Kumar, defended the gesture saying, “No religious angle should be given to this; flowers are used to welcome people. Administration respects all religions and actively takes part, even in Gurupurab, Eid, Bakrid or Jain festivals.”
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