Police on Thursday registered cases against 20 unidentified saffron-clad women in Fatehpur for misbehaving with law enforcers, disturbing peace and preventing them from protecting an Islamic shrine.
The women, accompanied by some local BJP members, had gathered in front of Maqbara-e-Sangi, an 18th-century mausoleum in Abunagar Redaiya Mohalla, on Wednesday evening in the name of celebrating Dev Dipawali.
A video of the incident circulating on social media shows the women launching into a diatribe against the policemen on duty, trying to break the barricading and asking the cops to let them enter the maqbara.
They lit diyas in front of the shrine and claimed that they have been celebrating Dev Dipawali there every year. However, the police and the mausoleum’s committee members said it was the first time “the BJP women had tried to celebrate a Hindu festival here”.
Tarkeshwar Rai, a local police inspector, said: “The women misbehaved with the police and obstructed them while they were doing their duty. We asked them to do puja at home and told them we can’t let them start a new tradition in front of a structure of some other faith. We are committed to protecting the structure till the court takes a decision.”
Some BJP leaders, including district president Mukhlal Pal, had barged into the maqbara on August 11, put up an RSS flag and desecrated the shrine. Later, the Math-Madir Sangharsh Samiti, an organisation allegedly floated by BJP leaders, had moved court seeking possession of the Islamic shrine on the claim that it was a Hindu temple in the past. A local court will hear the case on November 12.
The police had registered a case against half-a-dozen identified and 150 unidentified persons at that time but nobody was arrested.
Pal claims that the maqbara was a Thakur Dwara, a temple to Lord Krishna where Hindus used to offer prayers till 2012. He claims that Muslims took over the building and the then administration didn’t take action against the “encroachers”.
Locals, however, say they have been seeing the maqbara for the past many years. The employees of the mausoleum say it has been standing there for more than 200 years.
Sources said a report prepared by the local administration had stated that plot numbers 753 and 1159, located side by side, are registered in the name of the maqbara and a temple to Thakurji, respectively. This is the reason behind the confusion over the two properties, according to the report. The maqbara is registered with the Sunni Waqf Board of Uttar Pradesh.
Abdul Aziz, the muttawali (caretaker) of the property, said: “We don’t expect any action against the rioters. Currently, the entire area is barricaded and surrounded by the police. Even Muslims are not going there to offer prayers.”