By IANS,
Bhopal : A youth accompanying his sister was brutally beaten up by Bajrang Dal activists in Ujjain, while over 50 activists of right-wing Hindu organisations were detained in Gwalior and Bhopal on Valentine’s Day Saturday, Madhya Pradesh police said.
Elsewhere in the state, Valentine’s Day passed off peacefully with no untoward incident being reported from anywhere.
Activists of Bajrang Dal, who had gathered outside Vikram University in Ujjain to catch those found celebrating Valentine’s Day, stopped the two young people and beat up the man.
“However, the cops posted at a nearby police outpost soon came to their rescue and brought the situation under control. It was later revealed that the boy and girl were brother and sister. We are taking action against the troublemakers,” Ujjain police superintendent Manmeet Narang said.
In Gwalior, three dozen volunteers of Shiv Sena were arrested while they were looking for couples in the zoo. “Though no case of anyone’s harassment has come to light so far, the arrests were made as a preventive measure,” Gwalior police superintendent U.K. Suryavanshi told IANS over phone.
In Bhopal also, the police arrested 11 Shiv Sena activists and six activists of Sanskriti Bachao Manch (SBM), who were found loitering at Chinar Park in a bid to catch couples, said superintendent of police Jaideep Prasad.
While activists belonging to right wing Hindu outfits like Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena – which had announced any couple found roaming together on streets, parks or in restaurants would be forced to marry each other – were out to disrupt Valentine’s Day meetings and celebrations, Youth Congress workers distributed roses in Indore.
Youth Congress leader Devendra Singh and his associates stood at the foot of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the heart of Indore and distributed roses to all passers-by which included the Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena workers.