Lucknow. In the case of burning copies of Ramcharitmanas, the police have taken strict action against the accused. He was arrested earlier. Now National Security Act (NSA) has been imposed on 2 of the arrested accused. This action of imposing NSA on Satyendra Kushwaha and Salim, who were among the jailed accused, was taken by the Lucknow police late on Sunday night. In the case of burning copies of Ramcharitmanas, the police had registered an FIR against 10 people, including SP General Secretary Swami Prasad Maurya. Five of the accused were arrested and sent to jail. Lucknow DM Suryapal Gangwar issued an order for NSA action on Satyendra Kushwaha and Salim.
The other three accused of burning copies of Ramcharitmanas are Yashpal Singh Lodhi, Devendra Pratap Yadav and Naresh Singh. It is believed that NSA action will be taken soon on these too. According to the police, Salim had instigated the burning of copies of Ramcharitmanas. Whereas, the people of OBC Mahasabha were only going to protest by waving copies of this religious book. Police investigation has revealed that after Salim’s instigation the copies were torn and then publicly set on fire. Videos of this incident also came to the fore. In which Salim was also seen giving a statement against Ramcharitmanas.
The issue of burning copies of Ramcharitmanas happened after the controversial statement of Swami Prasad Maurya. Swami Prasad had described some cattle of Ramcharitmanas as anti-Dalit and anti-women. He had demanded to ban Ramcharitmanas. After which, on January 29, copies of Ramcharitmanas were torn and burnt in Lucknow’s Vrindavan scheme. The police had registered a case against all the accused under sections like conspiracy to incite communal riots, hurting the sentiments of the community, inciting people.