UP: Man arrested for burning Ramayan and image of Lord Hanuman in Shahjanpur a day after Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha

On Wednesday (24^th January), Uttar Pradesh police arrested a man named Rishi Dutt Mishra for allegedly burning a copy of the holy epic Ramayana and an image of Lord Hanuman in the Shahjahanpur district. The accused uploaded a video of his act on social media.

The accused is a native of Sarai Kaiyan in Ram Chandra Mission. Mishra was apprehended after a local police social media team identified him in a video, according to Superintendent of Police (SP) Ashok Kumar Meena.

The reason behind Mishra’s outrageous act was not clear immediately. Police said that the incident took place on 23^rd January (Tuesday) night. SP Meena informed that an FIR has been registered against the accused at Ram Chandra Mission Police Station.

“The accused Rishi Dutt Mishra burnt the picture of Lord Hanuman and a copy of Ramayana. He recorded a video of this act and posted it online. The incident took place on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, social media. The accused was caught after the video went viral. An FIR has been registered against him at Ram Chandra Mission Police Station,” SP Meena said.

The outrageous incident came just a day after the consecration of Ram Lalla was performed at Ayodhya Ram Mandir.

Notably, similar incidents have been reported recently. On January 22, one Shakib was arrested for burning Lord Ram’s picture. He burned a picture of God with a heater installed in his home and filmed his act. Following this, he uploaded the video on social media. Subsequently, the video went viral sparking an uproar. Within a few hours after receiving the information, the police apprehended Shakib.

On 19^th January, a man named Gopal Argal alias Gopal Ravan was arrested in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, for tearing a poster with an image of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir. He also posted a video of his outrageous actions on social media. The poster seen in the video is a photo of Ram Mandir distributed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad members as a part of their “Akshat Nimantran” drive across the country. The accused was arrested after a Hindu Sena activist lodged a complaint against him.

In Karnataka, police arrested two persons on 17^th January for tearing Shri Ram posters in Jahangir Mohalla and Gungunte Palya villages in the Kolar district. One of the accused was identified as Zaheer Khan. The CCTV footage showed the arrested individual Zaheer Khan cutting the banner with a sharp object at approximately 10:45 PM on January 16.