Minor girls accuse right wing groups of misbehaviour in Bhopal

Outfits landed at birthday parties alleging forced interfaith affair; police probe is on

Parents of four minor girls on Thursday complained to the Bhopal police that members of two right wing outfits had misbehaved with them at a hotel and circulated videos of their abusing the girls causing them mental agony, Childline Bhopal said.

The girls aged 14-16 were part of a group attending a birthday party on Wednesday evening when members of the Sanskriti Bachao Manch and the Bajrang Dal landed there alleging minors were being served alcohol and hookah, and there was a conspiracy by a Muslim man present of having a forced affair with a Hindu girl.

Demanding appropriate action, the parents alleged the groups had misbehaved with the girls and abused them, said Archana Sahay, Director of Childline Bhopal, which counselled the girls after the police took their custody.

“They have alleged the members shot their videos, made them viral on social media which had caused the girls and the parents mental agony, embarrassment and social boycott,” said Ms. Sahay.

A mother of two sisters present at the party told the police her husband, after seeing the girls in videos on the social media, had asked them not to return home claiming they had brought disgrace to the family, added Ms. Sahay. “Some TV channels even ran the clips, of minors including, which is against the law in case there is a possibility they are in conflict with law,” she said.

Sai Krishna S. Thota, Bhopal South SP, said of 12 persons present at two birthday parties at the hotel, nine were minors. “The groups [right wing outfits] reached there and created a commotion. After reaching the spot, we didn’t find any alcohol bottles while the contents of the hookah are being looked into,” he said.

Asked if action had been taken against the groups’ members, he said, “We are awaiting a report from the juvenile police unit and want to hear the children’s version first.”

Present at one of the parties, Vishal Sharma, 24, said the groups raided them suddenly. “They thrashed a Muslim man there. We don’t know who informed them about us.”

Chandrashekhar Tiwari of the Sanskriti Bachao Manch, seen in one of the videos grabbing the Muslim man by hair and saying he had brought a Hindu girl along with him, claimed hookah-bars were “the dens of forced interfaith affairs” and they should be banned. “We didn’t thrash anyone nor misbehaved with the girls,” he said.