UP Congress chief booked for ‘promoting enmity’

PTI, Nov 4, 2023, 9:26 AM IST

An FIR has been lodged against Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai on a complaint from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for allegedly promoting enmity, police said here on Saturday.

According to the complaint submitted to police by an ABVP office-bearer, Rai has accused the members of the organisation of being involved in an alleged incident of molestation on the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was lodged against the Congress leader under section 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Lanka police station here on Friday night, Inspector (crime) Sahjanand Srivastav said.

Rai described the complaint against him as a sign of nervousness on the part of the ABVP, the students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

”This shows their nervousness. A probe in the matter will reveal who is involved in it (the molestation incident). The BHU has become a den of ABVP (members) who harbour outsiders,” he told PTI.

The alleged incident of molestation occurred on Wednesday night. According to the complainant, she had gone out of her hostel with a friend when three men on a motorcycle forcibly took her to a corner and gagged her after separating her from her friend near the Karman Baba temple.

The accused then allegedly stripped the woman, made a video of her and took photos. They let her go after about 15 minutes and took her phone number, the complaint stated.

On the basis of the woman’s complaint, an FIR has been registered under section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC and under provisions of the Information Technology Act at the Lanka police station. Police are yet to make any arrest in the matter.