Priest who gave rape threats to Muslim women held in UP

BAJRANG MUNI DAS MAINTAINED THAT THE VIDEO WAS ‘DISTORTED’ TO FRAME HIM UNDER ‘FALSE CHARGES’

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday arrested a 38-year-old priest for allegedly issuing rape threats to Muslim women during a hate speech in Sitapur district on April 2, officials said.

In a two-minute video that has gone viral on social media, Bajrang Muni Das, head of Maharshi Shri Lakshman Das Udasin Ashram, is seen threatening Muslim women while addressing a procession at Khairabad area.

Das, however, maintained that the video was “distorted” to frame him under “false charges”.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video. Confirming Das’s arrest, Prashant Kumar, additional director general, law and order, said the priest was held in Sitapur after police collected proper evidence against him.

A first information report (FIR) was registered under 153A, 295A, 298, 354 A, 504, 509 of Indian Penal Code on April 10. The priest was also book under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act. A video of Das apologising for his statement surfaced later that day. “My statement has been presented in a wrong way. I seek unconditional apology for the same,” he said.

Questioning the delay in the arrest of the seer, the Samajwadi Party (SP) called the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party the “biggest enemy of brotherhood”.

“Why are police still empty handed? The government should answer. When will the bulldozer run on the accused? The chief minister should tell,” the party tweeted.

The post was followed by another tweet by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in which he asked chief minister Yogi Adityanath to act against the criminals hiding behind the saint’s robe.

“People expect the UP chief Minister to take action against those who sully a saint’s robe and wear it to hide their criminal acts -- the land grabbing and disturbing of peace,” he said.

Hitting back, state BJP spokesperson Harish Srivastava said: “The opposition needs to remember that under BJP rule, the law of the land is followed. As one would have noticed, the police have been acting freely against criminals and mafia.

The National Commission for Women had also sought the priest’s arrest.