NEW DELHI – Former Block President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Madan Joshi, is among five individuals booked for assaulting a Muslim man who was transporting buffalo meat in Ramnagar, located in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against Joshi and Hindutva leaders Raju Rawat, Sagar Manral, Pankaj, and Karan, along with 20–30 unidentified persons, under charges of attempt to murder and unlawful assembly. The FIR was filed at the Kotwali police station in Ramnagar on the basis of a complaint lodged by Noor Jahan, the wife of Nasir, who was assaulted on Thursday.
According to the complaint, on Thursday evening Nasir, a resident of Ramnagar, was attacked by a group of individuals affiliated with Hindutva groups after they intercepted his pick-up van. The mob accused him of transporting beef, even though he clarified that he was carrying buffalo meat with a legal permit issued by the authorities.
The incident came to light after several videos of the assault and vandalization of the van went viral on social media. The footage shows members of the mob confronting police officials, who can be heard asserting that the van contained buffalo meat, not beef. In one of the videos, a police officer is seen warning the mob not to take the law into their own hands.
As per the FIR, Nasir was transporting buffalo meat from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh to Ramnagar when he was stopped by a group of 20–30 people, including Joshi and the other accused.
“They forcibly got my husband out of the van and started assaulting him with rods and sticks with the intention of carrying out a mob lynching. They continued beating him with the intent to kill. Police van 112 reached the spot and rescued my husband from the mob,” stated the FIR.
“Had the police van not reached at the right time, Madan, Raju Rawat, Sagar Manral, Pankaj, and Karan would have killed my husband,” it added.
Despite the assault on Nasir, a separate case was also filed against him under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.
This story was originally published in thehindustangazette.com. Read the full story here.