Gujarat: 20 arrested for using offensive gestures, words during Eid procession near temple in Vadodara

20 persons were arrested for allegedly hurting religious feelings during a procession taken out on the occasion of Eid Milad un Nabi in Padra in Gujarat's Vadodara, a police official said on Saturday.

Some members of the procession made obscene gestures and uttered words hurting religious sentiments when it was passing by a temple on Friday night, Superintendent of Police (Vadodara Rural) Rohan Anand said.

Following this, a group of people from the Hindu community gathered outside Padra police station demanding strict action against the culprits, he said.

The crowd was dispersed and based on the complaint of one Ajay Parmar, an FIR was lodged against 13 identified and other unknown accused who were part of the procession, the SP said.

They were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 294B (obscene acts and songs), 298 (uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), he said.

Further investigation into the incident was under way, he added.