Lucknow: Basti police on Wednesday arrested four people, including two women, after a 15-year-old Muslim girl allegedly climbed up to a stage where a Hindu ritual (jagran) was being held and raised pro-Pakistan slogans. The minor has not been apprehended.
The arrests were carried out after the village pradhan filed a police complaint alleging that the girl’s act was part of a larger conspiracy that included her family members and her neighbours.
According to the police, village pradhan Ashish Gupta, lodged a complaint on Tuesday at Parasrampur police station stating that on Monday evening, a hindu ritual (jagran) was organised at the village crossing by the local unit of the Maa Singh Vahini Durga Pooja Samiti.
Late at night, he alleged, a girl from a neighbouring village climbed the stage, threw a black cloth on the idol of the goddess and raised the slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. The pradhan further alleged that the girl also issued a threat of instigating a riot.
“The action of the girl in the video shows she was issuing a threat. We still need to check what slogans she raised after climbing the stage,” Basti Circle Officer Sheshmani Upadhyay said.
Following the complaint, the girl, her parents, two sisters, two brothers and two of her neighbours were booked under IPC sections 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, a police officer said.
