2 held for attack on shanty-dweller Muslims in UP calling them Bangladeshi infiltrators

Ghaziabad: Members of a Hindu right wing outfit assaulted a group of people living near a railway station here and destroyed their shanties, claiming that they were Bangladeshi infiltrators, police said on Saturday.

Bhupendra Chowdhary, the president of the Hindu Raksha Dal, and Badal alias Hariom Singh were arrested in connection with the case late Saturday, they said.

Officials said that those attacked are not Bangladeshis and an FIR had been lodged against Chowdhary, also known as 'Pinky,' and 20 others for rioting, hurting religious feelings and other offences.

Some of the residents were injured in the incident that occurred around 7.30 pm on Friday, they said.

Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra told PTI, "Those living in the shanties are from Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh), not Bangladesh."

"The police are contemplating invoking the National Security Act (NSA) against the attackers in the case," Mishra added.

The incident occurred near Guldhar railway station when Chowdhary along with 20 of his supporters reached there, according to the police.

The group accused the residents of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and went on to vandalise their temporary shelters, the police said.

According to ACP (Kavinagar) Abhishek Srivastava, on receiving information about the incident, an investigation was conducted which revealed that the victims were not Bangladeshi nationals.

Sub-Inspector Sanjiv Kumar, who was on duty in Sanjay Nagar Sector-23, filed the First Information Report (FIR) at the local Madhuban Bapudham police station.

In his complaint, Kumar alleged that after hearing some commotion, he along with his police team arrived at the scene, where they observed Pinky and his supporters abusing and assaulting some Muslims while shouting anti-Bangladeshi slogans. The group also demolished the shanties.

"I tried to explain to them that these people are not from Bangladesh, but they continued beating them and damaging their shelters," Kumar alleged in his complaint.

The FIR has been lodged against Chowdhary and 20 unidentified individuals under relevant provisions of the law, the police said.

ACP Srivastava said that legal action will be taken against those involved and the culprits will be apprehended soon.

Chowdhary is the only named accused in the FIR, which was lodged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 191(2)(rioting), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 117(4)(causing grievous hurt), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religious or religious beliefs), 324(5)(mischief) and 354 (act caused by inducing person to believe that he will be rendered an object of Divine displeasure).