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A court in Raipur on Monday denied bail to seven Bajrang Dal workers who were arrested on Saturday for allegedly vandalising Christmas decorations at Magneto Mall in Chhattisgarh’s capital city last week.
The incident took place on Wednesday, and the same night, an FIR was registered at the Telibandha police station against 30-40 unknown men under BNS sections 331(3), 324(2), 115(2), 191(2) and 190, which pertain to tresspassing, intentionally causing damage or reducing the value/utility of property to cause wrongful loss, causing hurt, rioting and unlawful assembly.
“Seven men have been arrested from right-wing groups on Saturday. They were produced before a magistrate’s court and sent to judicial custody. Further identification of the accused is going on,” said a police official from Telibandha police station.
On Monday, the seven accused were again produced before court, which denied them bail.
Angered by the arrest of the men, a group of around 300 Bajrang Dal workers blocked an arterial road outside Telibandha police station and sat on the road blocking traffic for nearly nine hours.
On Wednesday — Christmas Eve — right-wing groups had called for a day-long bandh in Chhattisgarh in protest against alleged religious conversions that they claimed were taking place in the state. A mob armed with wooden sticks barged into Magneto Mall that day and vandalised Christmas decorations and installations. The mall featured figures of Santa Claus, reindeer, sleighs, snowmen and so on. Security guards at the mall tried to stop the mob but were overpowered.
An employee from the mall said, “Suddenly, 80-90 people barged in. We were supporting the protest. For the last 16 years, since we began operations, we have always supported protests by shutting down the shops. But I have never seen such behaviour in the last 16 years. The mob threatened, shouted and scared us. They did violence. It was not a protest. The vandalism has created an unsafe environment.”
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Another employee said, “Some women were crying. The mob did not care about anyone and charged at those who tried to stop them. They kept saying that they did not want to see Santa.”
The bandh called on Wednesday was said to have been triggered by the recent clash between two communities over the burial of a person from a converted family in Bastar region’s Kanker district.
Though the bandh received a mixed response in the state, some areas saw incidents of violence. While many shops and commercial establishments remained shut in urban areas in the state, the bandh’s impact was comparatively limited in many rural pockets.
