Ramcharitmanas row: NSA invoked against 2

Lucknow: The stringent National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked against two people lodged in jail for allegedly burning photocopies of extracts from the Ramcharitmanas, officials said on Monday.

The two -- Saleem and Satyendra Kushwaha -- are in jail in connection with a case lodged at the PGI police station here on January 29 after photocopies of extracts from the epic were burnt, they said. In the FIR, Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya, Devendra Pratap Yadav, Yashpal Singh Lodhi, Satyendra Kushwaha, Mahendra Pratap Yadav, Sujit Yadav, Naresh Singh, S S Yadav, Santosh Verma and Mohd Saleem were named.

The FIR also mentions unidentified people, referred to as "others". Maurya, a prominent OBC leader of Uttar Pradesh, had kicked up a controversy by alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be "banned." The FIR was lodged after Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha organised a protest in the Vrindavan scheme here on January 29, apparently in solidarity with Maurya.

The group claimed that its members only burnt photocopies of pages allegedly carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in the Ramcharitmanas. The case was registered at the PGI police station later based on a complaint by Satnam Singh Lavi, who alleged that the act of burning photocopies of the Ramcharitmanas poses a threat to peace, police officials said.

On RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement that "everyone is equal in the eyes of God and no caste or sect exists before him. All these things were created by 'pundits (priests), which is wrong", Maurya on Monday reiterated his demand that "objectionable" portions in the epic be banned or amended. "Saying that the caste system was created by Pundits (Brahmins), RSS chief Shri Bhagwat has exposed the so-called 'Dharma ke Thekedar' (self-proclaimed custodians of faith) and hypocrites who abuse women, tribals, Dalits and backward people in the guise of religion. At least now come forward to remove 'objectionable' comments in Ramcharitmanas," Maurya said in a tweet in Hindi.