Hindu Mahasabha office-bearer, husband arrested in Aligarh for ‘inflammatory’ statement

Hindu Mahasabha General Secretary Puja Shakun Pandey and her husband Ashok Pandey were arrested from their home on Tuesday, a day after they were booked for allegedly making an inflammatory statement against a particular community, police said.

Superintendent of Police (city) Abhishek Kumar said a case was filed against them on Monday at the Gandhi Park Police Station for the remark made at a press conference on April 4 in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz.

Puja was booked on Monday for the comments targeting the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz event in Delhi, police said, adding her husband was also booked later in the day.

The FIR against Puja was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by former Samajwadi Party MLA from Aligarh City Haji Zameer Ullah Khan, the police had said on Monday.

She was charged with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc (IPC section 153 A) and with making statements creating or promoting emnity hatred or ill-will among classes (505-2), police said.

In the complaint given to Senior Superintendent of Police Muniraj G, the former lawmaker had demanded stringent action against Pandey for her statement against all Jamaatis in connection with the Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi in March.

Khan had accused Puja of trying to disturb the communal peace in the city.

Police had said on Monday that Puja in her statement made some highly inflammatory comments against a particular community in connection with the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz at Nizamuddin.

Several coronavirus cases have been traced to the Markaz, according to health officials.