Congress seeks FIR over purification ritual at UK Haldwani rally venue

A Congress leader on Tuesday sought registration of an FIR against Shri Ram Dharmarth Seva Nyas president, Girish Chandra Pandey and 15 others over an alleged “purification” ritual performed at Ramlila Maidan in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani after the party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s address.

In his complaint at Parliament Street police station, MP Mallu Ravi alleged that Pandey and 15 unidentified persons entered into a “criminal conspiracy” and performed a yajna and sprinkled Gangajal at the venue on August 10, two days after Kharge addressed the meeting there on August 8.

Ravi alleged that the act was aimed at insulting and humiliating members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and was contrary to constitutional guarantees of equality and the abolition of untouchability.

He said the incident had deeply hurt his feelings and those of his community, adding that he had received calls from several people expressing concern over the alleged practice.

Ravi urged the police to register a case, arrest those responsible and take strict legal action under the SC/ST Act, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and relevant provisions of the BNS.