The Lucknow police in Uttar Pradesh has booked Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya and members of Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha. The police have invoked sections 120-B, 142, 143, 153-A, 295, 295-A, 298, 504, 505(2) and 506 of the IPC against 10 known and several unidentified people for “promoting enmity” after they allegedly burnt photocopies of the pages of Ramcharitmanas in the Vrindavan area of the city on January 29.
🚨 BIG BREAKING |
— News India Tweets (@NewsIndiaTweets) January 30, 2023
Case filed against Swami Prasad Maurya & Office bearers of All India OBC Mahasabha for burning religious copies of Ramcharitmanas in Lucknow.
– YOGI Police booked them under Section 120-B, 142, 143, 153-A, 295, 295-A, 298, 504, 505(2), 506.
The FIR has been filed at the PGI police station in Lucknow. The police said that the FIR was registered based on a complaint filed by BJP leader Satnam Singh Lavi. Based on the complaint, Yashpal Singh Lodhi, Devendra Yadav, Mahendra Pratap Yadav, Naresh Singh, SS Yadav, Sujit, Santosh Verma, and Salim have been booked, said SHO Rajesh Rana.
The action was taken after Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha, on January 29, burnt the copies of the holy Hindu scripture Ramcharitmanas in the Vrindavan Yojana of the PGI Kotwali area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The OBC Mahasabha members announced their support to Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya who recently stirred controversy by saying that the Ramcharitmanas should be banned.
In the viral video, the protesting OBC Mahasabha members alleged that the holy Hindu scripture contains several Chaupai (verses) against women and the Shudras. The video has since gone viral on social media.
This comes after Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya claimed that certain portions of the Ramcharitmanas “insult” a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be “banned”.
On January 22, Maurya, while speaking to a news channel, said that Ramcharitamanas, written by Goswami Tulsidas in the 17th century, promoted social discrimination and spread hatred.
On January 24, an FIR under sections 153A, 295A, 298, 504, 505(2) of the IPC was registered against Swami Prasad Maurya in connection with his remarks on Ramcharitramanas.
