A controversy has broken out in Ramnagar, Uttarakhand, after police registered a case against Raju Rawat over a Janmashtami tableau on “love jihad,” a term defining forced religious conversion of Hindu women by Muslim men using multiple tactics, from fake idenitity to allurements.
Late Saturday (September 5) night, Hindu activists gathered at Ramnagar police station, raised slogans against the police, and asked on what basis Rawat had been booked. They said he put up the tableau on Janmashtami and took it down after the local administration directed him to do so following a complaint.
The protesters said he dismantled the tableau and stall in about 15 minutes and that registering a case despite that compliance was hard to understand.
Those who reached the police station included Bhupendra Khati, Ghanshyam Sharma, Farmers’ Commission member Sanjay Dorvi, Bhavna Bhatt and Dinesh Mehra.
Khati said the group stood with Rawat. “Raju Rawat had installed the tableau on Janmashtami. When the administration asked him to remove it following a complaint, he respected the direction and dismantled the tableau within about 15 minutes.” He asked why removal did not settle the immediate objection if any part of the display was considered problematic.
Naveen Kargeti sought an inquiry into the police action. He said officials telephoned Rawat after learning of the tableau, and that Rawat immediately removed both the tableau and the stall. “Why, then, was there a need to register a case overnight? This should be investigated.”
Hindu activists asked why a man was booked for a display on a subject that elected leaders in the state and at the Centre have themselves raised in public. They demanded clarity on the complaint and on the circumstances in which the case was registered.
Police had not issued a detailed official statement on the allegations, the legal sections invoked, or the nature of the complaint against the tableau. That response will set out the legal grounds for the case and whether further action is planned.
