LUCKNOW: As many as 37 people were arrested over Friday and Saturday in UP over incidents related to the
SC verdict on Ayodhya. Crimes included posting inflammatory comments, creating panic by giving wrong information to
UP 112 and “celebrating” the verdict.
Seven people were arrested in three separate incidents of minor law and order issues in Meerut alone. Two were arrested in GB Nagar, followed by one each in Lucknow, Sitapur, Gorakhpur, Banda, Hathras, Lakhimpur Kheri, Kasganj, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Bareilly, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli.
Many others were detained.
In Lucknow, Ramesh Pal (25) of Rakabganj was arrested for circulating a message about the formation of Ram temple after the verdict. The arrest was made under charges of spreading enmity between two groups and deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage against a religion or class.
In Sitapur, Pushpendra (30), under Kamplapur police station, was arrested for making an objectionable post on Facebook. In Gorakhpur, Shakeel (32) was arrested for posting an objectionable audio. He also operated a WhatsApp group known as ‘Power Junction’. In GB Nagar, Amit Jani of Nav Nirman Sena was arrested for bursting fire crackers while Deepak Chaudhary was arrested for giving wrong information about gathering of a group to UP 112. UP Police’s social media cell also reported 2,426 posts on Twitter, 865 on Facebook and 69 videos on YouTube.
In 17 cases, UP 112 dispatched a police response vehicle to address a complaint but found that it was a hoax call. As a result, preventive action was taken against callers.