Court should take note of assault on shanty-dwellers in Ghaziabad: Akhilesh

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has urged the court to take cognisance of the assault on a group of people in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad by members of a Hindu right-wing outfit, and asked if this was a new way to "vacate" land.

Members of the outfit assaulted the group of people living near a railway station in Ghaziabad and destroyed their shanties, claiming they were Bangladeshi infiltrators. Bhupendra Chowdhary, the president of the Hindu Raksha Dal, and Badal alias Hariom Singh were arrested in connection with the case late Saturday.

In a post on X on Saturday night, Yadav said, "Even the government does not have the right to take the law into its own hands, then how can its associates and henchmen have the right to do so. The honourable court is requested to take suo motu cognisance of this violent matter."

He said this is not arbitrary violence. "Is this also a game of the 'Bharatiya Jameen Party', which is devising this unique way to vacate the land?" Yadav said targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is power in Uttar Pradesh and at the Centre.

"Such incidents are tarnishing the image of Uttar Pradesh. This misdeed that happened so close to the country's capital should be investigated to see if this is the result of a fight between two parties," he said and also shared a video of the incident.

Officials have said that those attacked are not Bangladeshis and an FIR had been lodged against Chowdhary, also known as 'Pinky,' and 20 others for rioting, hurting religious feelings and other offences.

Some of the residents were injured in the incident that occurred around 7.30 pm on Friday, they said.