Ramcharitmanas row: UP cops arrest Mohammad Salim, few others for burning copies of Hindu epic

Updated: Monday, January 30, 2023, 23:49 [IST]

New Delhi, Jan 30: The Lucknow Police arrested several people for burning photocopies of the pages of Ramcharitmanas in the Vrindavan area of the city and "promoting enmity".

Mohammad Salim, Yashpal Singh Lodhi, Devendra Yadav, Mahendra Pratap Yadav, Naresh Singh, SS Yadav, Sujit and Santosh Verma are among those who were booked. The case was filed based on a complaint filed by BJP leader Satnam Singh Lavi, ANI reported.

Ramcharitmanas row: UP cops arrest Mohammad Salim, few others for burning copies of Hindu epic

The case has been booked under sections 120 B, 142, 143, 153-A, 295, 295-A, 298, 504, 505(2), 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the complaint filed by the BJP leader, Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha burned "photocopies" of pages allegedly carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in Ramcharitmanas in support of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya.

The "photocopies" of pages carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in Ramcharitmanas were burnt in support of Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya, the complaint filed by the BJP leader said.

Swami Prasad Maurya, prominent OBC leader from Uttar Pradesh, had sought a ban on the work composed by the 16th-century poet-saint Tulsidas alleging that Dalits and women have been "insulted" in Ramcharitmanas. The SP leader said, "I don't have any issue with Ramcharitramanas but parts of it have insulting comments and sarcasm directed at particular castes and sects. Those should be removed."

Meanwhile, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has defended Maurya in the row, and said that he would ask Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath about the meaning of 'tadan'.

"Our chief minister is from an institution and is a yogi. I will ask him about the lines of Ramcharitmanas on which discussions are being held today. What is the meaning of 'tadan' in the verse and for whom it is used," PTI qupted Yadav as telling to reporters on Sunday night.

"We follow both Ram and Krishna. This is not a matter of Swami Prasad Maurya's remark but of the lines," he said.