Malala Yousafzai memoir reading turns violent in Ahmedabad, three arrested

A reading event for Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai's memoir "I Am Malala" turned violent in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, after a group calling themselves right-wing activists attacked the people taking part, police said on Friday.

Police have arrested three people over the attack, which happened at Vastrapur Garden on Thursday evening, an official said.

Vastrapur police station Inspector G M Chaudhary said nearly 20 people, including women, had gathered at the garden for the reading session. They were then confronted by a group of 18 to 20 armed people who said they belonged to the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and objected to the book being read. 

She said the readers were leaving the garden after the session when the group arrived and angrily asked why they had read Yousafzai's memoir, "I Am Malala."

This led to an argument and then a physical fight, during which two people were hurt after being hit with sticks by the attackers, the official said.

"An FIR has been registered, and two of the accused were known to the victims. Apart from them, six individuals have been identified, and three have already been arrested," she said.

She added that the attackers claimed to be part of the Bajrang Dal and VHP.

Police filed a case under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to rioting, unlawful assembly, and causing physical harm, the official said.

This isn't the first such incident. A few weeks earlier, a private school in Ahmedabad had to remove books by Yousafzai and Holocaust survivor Anne Frank from its compulsory reading list, after facing protests from right-wing groups.  (with inputs from PTI)