Saffron terror: Bajrang Dal beats siblings on V-day

The Bajrang Dal activists beat up a youth who was accompanied by her sister in Ujjain. The saffron brigade had mistaken them as a couple going out on St Valentine's Day.

The incident caused outrage near the Vikram University Campus in Ujjain, a City in Madhya Pradesh. The girl's plea fell on deaf ears as the Bajrang Dal workers beat her brother.

"They were indeed siblings and had come to university for some work when they were assaulted while going back", said a senior police official. However, no FIR was registered.

As soon as the news spread, the activists of National Students' Union of India (NSUI) staged a protest against the Bajrang Dal. They staged a demonstration and set afire a symbolic effigy of Bajrang Dal.

Across the country dozens of such incidents occurred where young lovers were beaten up or made to do sit ups. The heads of youths were tonsured. In most cities, young couples avoided public places like pubs, parks, theatres et al.

In Nizamabad (Andhra Pradesh), a young couple was forcibly married. In Agra, the Shiv Sena hooligans tonsured the heads of youths who were spotted with their girl friends.

A girl was beaten up and pulled by hair in Jind in Haryana. A policeman, Mula Ram, who had assaulted her was later suspended. The girl's crime was that she had gone to meet her boyfriend.

Hundreds of Sri Ram Sene activists had been arrested in Karnataka on the eve of Valentine's Day. There were solitary incidents reported from other parts of the country including Ranchi (Jharkhand), Jammu, Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Sangli (Maharashtra) and Bijnore (UP).

TIH Bureau