Activists of the Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), a Hindu youth group founded by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, barged into a house on Tuesday in Meerut’s Shastri Nagar, dragged out a Muslim couple on suspicion of ‘love jihad’, and allegedly thrashed them.
Booked for obscenity
While the woman was released, her male friend was booked by the police for obscenity.
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The couple, who turned out to be consenting adults, were handed over to the police by members of the HYV. Alok Priyadarshi, Superintendent of Police, Meerut city, told the media that he was released later on Tuesday.
A video of the incident that is circulating on social media shows HYV members barging into the house and bombarding the couple with questions such as “What is your name? What are you doing here? Have you converted?”
According to the HYV members, the couple were found in a “compromising” position when they, along with local residents, forced their way into the house.
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Nagendar Pratap Singh Tomar, the chief of HYV for western U.P., had reached the spot with a large number of HYV workers. He told The Hindu that the local residents were “disturbed” that Wasim, who stays as a tenant in Shastri Nagar, “brings his woman friend to his house.”
He added: “This was having a bad impact on the children and the people in the neighbourhood. So on Tuesday, when we were in the vicinity for some religious function, they informed us that something like this was going on in their area. So we intervened.”
He claimed that the couple were not thrashed by the HYV members.