MADURAI: The Madurai city police have arrested six members belonging to the BJP and the Hindu Front outfit for trespassing into a prayer hall on Sunday morning and disrupting the meeting. A video of the incident went viral in social media.
According to the police, 10 people from the BJP and Hindu Front led by Rajakannan, state secretary, OBC wing, BJP and Arasapandi, district secretary, Hindu Front, disrupted the Christian prayer meeting that was being held at the Nalvasanai AG Sabai on South Perumal Maistry Street. The group threw the chairs, verbally abused the congregation and threatened them to vacate the hall.
Based on a complaint given by P Praveenrajkumar, the Southgate police registered a case under sections 143, 147, 448, 294(b), 506(i), 153A(1)(b) and 505(3) of the Indian Penal Code against the accused on charges of trespassing, criminal intimidation, acting in a way to promote communal hatred, disrupting a prayer meeting among others.
Six members were subsequently arrested and remanded in judicial custody.
On Monday, BJP and Hindu Front members staged a protest near Keeraithurai condemning the arrests and demanded to stop alleged religious conversion in the district. The protesters held flags and shouted slogans of ‘stop religious conversion’. Police arrested the protesters for assembling in a public place in unlawful manner.
