Lulu Mall row: CM Adityanath pulls up police, says miscreants should be dealt with strictly

Lucknow, July 19: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has pulled up the district and police administration over the protests organised outside Lulu mall in state capital Lucknow.

The chief minister said that some people are making unnecessary remarks and staging demonstrations to obstruct the movement of people, stressing that miscreants attempting to create such nuisance should be dealt with strictly.

"Unnecessary statements were being made by certain people and demonstrations being organised to obstruct the movement of people visiting the mall. No one should be permitted to obstruct traffic on the road by organising prayers or other events," he said.

A controversy broke out after a video purportedly showing a group of people offering namaz at Lulu Mall surfaced on social media, leading to a protest by a right-wing Hindu group that also filed a police complaint.

Members of the group also sought permission from the local authorities to recite the Hanuman Chalisa near the mall on Friday.

According to reports, a complaint was filed at the Sushant Golf City police station by Sibtain Hussain, the public relations manager of the mall.

The police said the FIR was lodged under sections 153 A(1) (promoting enmity by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli¬gious feelings of any class by insulting religion or reli¬gious beliefs), 341 (wrongfully restraining any person) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.