A mob tried to enter a mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Sant Kabir Nagar district on 22 January — the Ayodhya Ram Mandir consecration day. A procession, carrying saffron flags with them, was playing music on their systems, as they stood outside the mosque in Sant Kabir Nagar’s Mehdawal area. One person in the procession was seen climbing on the gates of the mosque. The mosque, however, had been locked in advance, prior to the procession’s gathering.
A video of the incident subsequently went viral on social media, where the group of men and young boys can be seen dancing in celebrations outside the mosque, and one among them trying to enter the mosque.
Taking cognisance of the viral video, the Sant Kabir Nagar police has arrested 5 individuals, who are locals from Mehdawal. The accused have been identified as Ganesh Prajapati, Siddhant Jaiswal, Ashok Kumar, Anil, Ramesh.
The individuals have been arrested under the preventive sections of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc). The CrPC sections include 151 (preventive arrest to avoid wrongdoing), 107 (preventive arrest to ensure no breach of peace) and 116 (inquiry to find truth of information).
'Procession Celebrated In Front Of Mosque, Tried To Enter...': Police
Speaking to The Quint, the Additional Supretendent of Police (ASP) Shashi Shekhar Singh confirmed the arrests. “We have taken cognisance of the incidents and have taken preventive action against the miscreants,” ASP said.
The SHO Mehdawal, Vijay Kumar Dubey, said that the accused individuals were part of a procession going past the mosque.
“That is part of the route that they take to the temple on every important occasion. So, they were taking the same route this time too. The mosque and the temple are close to each other, but they stopped at the mosque and began playing music,” the SHO told The Quint. “One of the boys attempted to enter the mosque twice, but could not.”
The police official said that there had been no complaint from the mosque committee or the locals. “No one registered a complaint. It’s just that some third party posted the video of this incident on social media, and we took cognisance of it. To avoid any future wrongdoing, we have arrested these people," the SHO added.
Several incidents have come to light in the last week, since the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on 22 January, of violence, skirmishes and vandalism. At least 6 states have witnessed some violent incident, including Maharashtra where violence occurred at Mira Road, after which the authorities demolished many houses and shops.
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