By Advitya Bahl / The Times Of India

Noida: Five policemen were injured in a scuffle that broke out inside a police station between cops and activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal on Thursday evening. Police later took several of the assailants into custody.

Around 4pm on Thursday, 50-60 members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal reached Sector 39 police station to “talk” to the cops, who had detained a 13-year-old boy, a Huindu, for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl from a minority community.

“The argument soon snowballed into a clash. The cops and members of the outfits exchanged blows. Five policemen suffered injuries,” said a senior police officer.

An FIR was registered under sections 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

“The FIR names one Ganga. It also mentioned the involvement of 50-60 unidentified people,” the officer said. The FIR was lodged on a complaint by constable Anil Kumar. “Around 4pm, they started agitating outside the police station. Four of my colleagues and I tried to reason with them, but they kept shouting slogans. Led by Ganga, they initially hurled abuses at us and then attacked us. They even tore our uniforms,” Kumar said in the complaint.

Additional DCP Ranvijay Singh said some of the alleged attackers had been taken into custody.

“We are checking on the involvement of the others in the scuffle. A detailed investigation is under way,” Singh said.

Rahul Dubey, the media in charge of VHP, said some of their members were also injured in the clash with the cops. “Some of those injured are senior office-bearers. Police arrested our Noida unit convener and took several of our activists into custody. They were later released on bail,” he added..

This article first appeared on timesofindia.indiatimes.com