After a video showed of a man being assaulted and told to 'go to Pakistan' went viral on social media, Rajasthan police has registered a case against the accucsed at Ajmer's Ramganj Police station on 24 August.
The five accused were earlier arrested under Section 151 CrPC (arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences). Now they have been booked under Section 153 - A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion), 295 A (deliberate, malicious intention of outraging religious beliefs), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code, The Quint has learnt.
Two minors, a girl and a boy, possibly related to the beggar who had ostensibly come to beg for alms in a neighbourhood of Rajasthan's Ajmer, can also be seen being heckled by the man in the video of the incident. A crowd of people can be seen spectating the affair.
"Go to Pakistan. You will get alms there. You won't get anything here," the assailant can be heard telling the indigent man in the video. He also slaps the man multiple times and attempts to kick him, the footage shows.
The Investigation so Far
"A video appeared on the evening of 21 August, which gave the knowledge of a beggar and some of his associates being beaten up by some men. When the incident was looked into, it was found that the episode took place in Ramganj's Subhash Nagar area," the Ajmer police said in a statement on Monday, 23 August.
"It was learnt that the people who were beaten up belonged to UP. They did not lodge any FIR. It was also learnt that Lalit Sharma and a few of his associates had committed the assault. Subsequently, five people including Lalit Sharma were arrested under IPC section 151," the police statement added.
Shashi Kant Sharma, officer on special duty (OSD) to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, directed the Ajmer police to look into the matter on Monday night.
"In the said case, five people including Lalit Sharma have been arrested under section 151 CrPC by the Ramganj district police station of Ajmer on 22 August," the Ajmer police said in its reply.
After a day of detention the five accused were let off. Before they were released, preventive action was taken against the five accused under Section 108 CrPC, which deals with communal incidents.
Now as the accused have been charged under four new sections of the IPC, which include non-bailable and non-compoundable offences, they are expected to be arrested again.
The victim, according to the FIR registered on 24 August, has not been found yet, the police has said.
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