Kolkata: Bajrang Dal members went on a rampage and clashed with police in Purulia district of West Bengal on Tuesday after the right-wing outfit’s district co-convenor was arrested for an alleged objectionable Facebook post on the recently concluded Panchayat polls and his alleged role in armed Ram Navami processions in March.
Following the arrest, the outfit called for a bandh in Purulia, put up road blockades and held pitched battles with the police at various locations.
Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the mob. Several people, including a woman, was injured in the clashes. A large contingent of police force was deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
The Bajrang Dal also surrounded the police station where the FIR was registered to demand the unconditional release of its member, Gaurav Singh.
Media-in-charge of VHP in Bengal, Sourish Mukherjee, condemned the arrest and said: “We are protesting against the arrest of Gaurav Singh. We have gheroed the local police station and have demanded his immediate and unconditional release.”
“Although he was booked under cyber-crime and in connection with Ram Navami processions, we smell conspiracy because the BJP emerged as a key player in Purulia in the Panchayat polls,” he said.
Bajrang Dal activists are also planning to hold a protest rally in Kolkata on Wednesday.
In March this year, the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) had issued show cause notices to a few organisations, including the Bajrang Dal, for allegedly making schoolchildren participate in Ram Navami processions in Purulia during which weapons were brandished.
The move was in defiance of a WBCPCR directive sent to all district magistrates of the state to stop children from participating in armed religious rallies.
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