Five held for burning copies of Ramcharitmanas in Lucknow

LUCKNOW Five people were booked and arrested by Lucknow Police on Monday for allegedly burning the copies of Ramcharitmanas near Awas Vikas office under PGI police station limits on Sunday.

“A complaint was lodged by Satnam Singh against the five accused after which an FIR was lodged in the case. The accused -- Satendra Kushwaha, Yash Pal Singh, Devendra Pratap Yadav, Suresh Singh Yadav, and Md Saleem -- were arrested on Monday. They are all residents of Lucknow and have been booked under IPC sections 120b, 142, 143, 153a, 295a, 295, 298, 504(2), and 506,” said Hridesh Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (East) on Monday. “The accused have been sent to judicial custody,” he added while emphasising that police will take action against all those who try to create a ruckus and disturb peace.

On Sunday, All-India OBC Mahasabha activists burnt copies of the Ramcharitmanas in the Vrindavan Yojana area under the PGI police station limits. Their act, a video of which has gone viral on social media, was in support of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently made a controversial remark on the Hindu epic.

“There are certain chaupais (verses) which are against Shudras. We strongly oppose it. Such negative portrayal of Shudras or Dalits, as they are called, is not acceptable,” the protestors had said while demanding the government to remove the objectionable verses from the Ramcharitmanas. They even threatened protests across the state.