By Omar Rashid
New Delhi: Police have arrested 11 persons for hoisting Hindu saffron flags atop and inside a Mughal-era mosque in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra district. The incident took place during a ‘shobha yatra‘ taken out by right-wing activists soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya at the site where the Babri Masjid stood till December 6, 1992.
According to the FIR lodged at Tajganj police station in Agra at 00:36 hours on January 23, the caretaker of the Diwan ji Ki Begum Shahi Masjid in Billochpura alleged that around 1,000-1, 500 persons carrying “lathis and sticks” forcibly barged into the mosque at around 3:30 pm in January 22.
“They created complete chaos in the mosque,” said Zahir Uddin, the mutawalli (caretaker) of the mosque. In his police complaint, seen by The Wire, Zahir Uddin said the “anti-social elements” hoisted saffron flags on the minarets, walls and in the inner premises of the mosque. They “desecrated the mosque”, said Zahir Uddin.
The miscreants also raised religious slogans and threatened those inside the mosque, alleged the caretaker. They were “unabashedly using undignified language for the other religion”, the FIR said quoting Zahir Uddin, who was not available for further comments.
The FIR lodged against 1,000-1,500 unidentified persons invoked Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 452 (trespass after preparation for hurt or assault) and 505 (2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here .