Crime Today News
The police in Jaipur have registered a criminal case against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Balmukund Acharya on charges of hurting religious sentiments after he allegedly led a sloganeering crowd outside the Jama Masjid in the Walled City on Friday night, reported The Indian Express.
Acharya released a statement on social media expressing regret over the incident and pledging not to enter mosques again.
Acharya, accompanied by BJP leaders and workers, allegedly shouted offensive slogans, held up saffron flags and torches, and put up posters on the mosque premises during a protest against the Pahalgam terror attack.
Hafiz Mansoor Ali Khan, a member of the Jama Masjid committee, said that Acharya entered the premises around 8:30 pm, placed a “Pakistan Murdabad” poster at the gate and shouted “Jai Shri Ram”.
The incident, captured on security cameras, triggered a gathering of nearly 1,500 people from the Hindu and Muslim communities at the nearby Badi Chaupar area. Congress MLAs Rafiq Khan and Amin Kagzi, along with Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph, intervened to prevent the situation from escalating.
The police registered a first information report against Acharya on a complaint by the Jama Masjid Committee. The FIR was filed under Sections 298 (injuring or defiling place of worship), 300 (disturbing religious assembly), 302 (uttering word with intent to wound religious feelings) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
“The situation on Friday night was extremely tense,” said Gur Bhupendra Singh, station house officer at the Manak Chowk police station. “We managed to control the crowd with considerable difficulty.”
At a press conference on Saturday, Kagzi and Khan said that Muslims were deeply hurt by Acharya’s actions and demanded strict action against the legislator.
The BJP appeared to distance itself from Acharya. The party’s state president Madan Rathore said: “I spoke to Balmukund Acharya, who said he was participating in a protest against the Pahalgam incident. He claimed he was trying to calm the crowd that reached the mosque. However, I firmly told him that no one should enter a mosque. Such actions create communal divisions, and we must remain united against anti-national forces, not target innocent citizens. We respect all religions.”
Acharya is a first-time legislator representing the Hawa Mahal Assembly constituency. He has previously campaigned against the consumption of meat, use of loudspeakers by mosques, girls wearing hijab to school, and demanded the removal of Bangladeshi and Rohingya refugees from Jaipur. He is the chief priest of the Hathoj Dham temple.
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