LUCKNOW: Taking cognizance of a video of alleged hate speech by a Hindu seer in the Khairabad area of Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, the National Commission for Women (NCW) issued notice to UP DGP Mukul Goel on Friday asking the state police to arrest the seer soon. However the seer claimed that his statements were "tweaked and twisted."
The video of Bajrang Muni Das, mahant of Maharshi Shri Lakshman Das Udasin Ashram in Khairabad town, has been doing rounds on social media since Thursday showing the seer giving call for abducting and raping Muslim women in public, with people cheering and clapping over his comments.
In the letter to DGP Goel, NCW Chairperson said: “The National Commission for Women has come across a Twitter post enclosing video of a priest Bajrang Muni threatening to kidnap and rape Muslim women while addressing a gathering in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. It has been reported that the police personnel were also present at the location, however, none of them stopped him from making such an outrageous statement against women.”
The NCW chief added that the commission had taken a serious note of the incident and condemned the statement made by the accused.
“The police should not be a mute spectator in such incidents and appropriate measures must be taken by them to curb people from using such outrageous language for women,” the letter, a copy of which has also been sent to the Sitapur Superintendent of Police, said.
The Commission also asked the police to inform it about the action taken by them within seven days.
According to Sitapur SP Rajeev Dixit, a video of Bajrang Muni of Khairabad had gone viral and police took cognizance of the video immediately and registered a case against him under relevant sections of the IPC at Khairabad Police Station. “Evidence is being collected in this case and strict action will be taken against the culprit,” he affirmed.
Uttar Pradesh ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said stringent action would be taken against the accused.
Meanwhile, the Mahant claimed that he was getting death threats from Muslims. However, the district police claimed that the seer was provided security in the wake of the threats.
A video of the saffron-clad seer allegedly issuing a rape threat had surfaced on social media on Thursday, prompting police to initiate a probe into the matter.
The two-minute video is said to have been recorded on April 2 when Bajrang Muni Das was taking out a procession on the occasion of Navratri and Hindu New Year.
In the video, Das can be heard saying that if any Hindu girl is teased by a man belonging to a particular community, he would himself rape a woman of that community. He also made some more objectionable comments. It is alleged that when his procession reached near a mosque, he started giving the hate speech on a loudspeaker.