A mob pelted the police with stones and damaged vehicles in Shahjahanpur town of central Uttar Pradesh on Friday night, protesting a local man’s alleged remarks against an Islamic religious text and Prophet Muhammad.

The police had arrested the accused, K.K. Dikshit, by Friday evening on a complaint from idgah committee secretary Syed Qasim Raza. However, the mob gathered at Sadar Bazar police station and demanded that he be handed over.

Arvind Singh, the officer in charge of the police station, said: "We called for reinforcements and used mild force to disperse the crowd. The mob pelted the police with stones and damaged some vehicles."

He said there was no report of any injury to anybody. "It could have been worse, the way the angry mob surrounded the police station though we had promised action against the accused," Singh said.

At least 20 damaged two-wheelers were seen on the roads around the police station when the force conducted a flag march on Saturday morning.

Shahjahanpur superintendent of police Rajesh Dwivedi appealed to the public to ignore rumours and said the situation was under control.

District magistrate Dharmendra Pratap Singh said: "We have arrested the accused. We talked to the protesters and they agreed to return home."

Raza said the accused had made "a derogatory remark against an Islamic text and the Prophet" on social media. "He vitiated the atmosphere in the city. The protesters wanted the police to book him for sedition," he said.

"While we were talking to the police, the crowd turned aggressive outside. They want stringent action against the accused."

A protester told local reporters that the police had been slow to act against the accused. "This was why some people got angry and entered the police station compound. They asked the police to hand the accused over to them. The police lathi-charged us, injuring at least half-a-dozen people. There is still anger and it may erupt anytime if the police don’t book the accused for sedition," he said.