Ghaziabad police on Saturday registered an FIR against Hindu Raksha Dal activists who had allegedly attacked a group of slum dwellers in the national capital region, accusing them of being Bangladeshis.

The activists of the Right-wing group beat them with sticks, destroyed their shanties and set their belongings on fire.

The police said a probe had revealed that the slum dwellers were Muslims from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

A senior police officer said an FIR had been filed against Hindu Raksha Dal’s national president Bhupendra Chaudhary, also known as Pinky Chaudhary, and 15-20 unidentified individuals.

“They asked the identities of the slum dwellers and started assaulting them. They did not stop when two policemen clarified that they were from Uttar Pradesh and not Bangladeshis,” said a local.

The police said a couple of days ago Chaudhary had released a video threatening action against Bangladeshis in India if the reported violence against Hindus in Bangladesh did not stop and even vowed to target Bangladeshis residing in India if the situation continued.

Chaudhary formed the Hindu Raksha Dal in July 2013 and has more than a lakh registered members, mostly in Delhi-NCR.

Assam rally

A group of Guwahati-based organisations affiliated to the Sangh parivar took out a protest rally on Saturday against the “killing of humanity”
in Bangladesh while appealing to the interim government there to stop the targeting of minorities.

Spearheaded by the Kutumba Surakshya Parishad, around 200 protesters marched 1.4km from the TC Girls Point to the office of the assistant high commissioner of Bangladesh, Ruhul Amin. They staged a dharna outside the office for an hour before submitting a memorandum condemning the “unfortunate anti-human, anti-culture” incidents taking place in Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad have in an open letter to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus — who is helming the interim government — claimed that there have been 206 attacks on minority communities in 52 districts since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.

The protesters in Guwahati appealed to the interim government to take prompt action “so that the killing of humanity can be stopped and people can live dignified lives” or else the hatred “being generated” in Bangladesh may have ramifications across the world. They also urged the interim government to “ensure not a single Bangladeshi citizen could enter India illegally”.