The Madhya Pradesh Police has said that it was yet to find any links between the seven persons arrested for recently assaulting a Muslim man in a hotel in Bhopal, and any Hindutva organisations, The Indian Express reported on Monday.

On May 10, a group of persons accused 27-year-old Arif Khan of “love jihad” while he was with a Hindu woman and assaulted him.

Love jihad is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that Muslim men trick Hindu women into romantic relationships with the aim of converting them to Islam. The Union home ministry has told Parliament that Indian law has no provision defining such a term.

Govindpura Station House Officer Awadhesh Singh Tomar told The Indian Express that of the seven persons held for the assault, one is a juvenile. The others were identified as Brijendra Prajapati, Prateek Chouksey, Lalaram Meena, Ramesh, Ajay and Aman.

“Representatives of right-wing organisations have informed that they are a disciplined organisation and these individuals are not their members,” the newspaper quoted Tomar as saying.

He added that Khan had also been arrested in connection with old allegations pending for some years.

“He was recently released from jail and we found was involved in two cases of mobile phone thefts,” Tomar was quoted as saying. “After this came to light, we arrested him.”

After Khan was assaulted, a first information report had been registered at the Govindpura police station based on multiple complaints against unidentified persons.

Reports had earlier claimed that persons allegedly associated with the Bajrang Dal were among those who had assaulted Khan. They later paraded him on the street after smearing ink and cow dung on his face.

The Bajrang Dal is part of a group of Hindutva organisations led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Videos shared on social media showed the persons shouting “Jai Shri Ram” during the assault. Some clips also showed them slapping Khan in front of police personnel as officers tried to intervene, The Hindu reported.

The woman later told the police that she had not faced coercion or forced conversion and had met Khan of her own free will. She also said that she had gone to the hotel voluntarily.

Complaint against seven accused for assault

One of the complaints that was the basis for the FIR and the arrest of the seven accused was filed by a social worker, Mohmmad Uwais Rahmani, who said that he was disturbed by the video circulating on social media, The Indian Express reported.

“I do not know the youth,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “My complaint was on the sentiments of the Muslim community being hurt.”

Rahmani also spoke to Khan, who told him that a complaint had initially been registered against him after the assault. However, Deputy Commissioners of Police (Bhopal) Vikas Kumar Sehwal told the newspaper that this had since been “rectified”.

The social worker quoted the 27-year-old as having said that he had been “falsely accused of love jihad” and subjected to “indecent behaviour”.

In his complaint, Rahmani quoted Khan as saying that “some persons, who identified themselves as associated with Bajrang Dal, stopped me because I am Muslim”.

“They behaved in an extremely inhuman manner with me by forcibly stripping me, smearing black paint on my face, applying cow dung and publicly humiliating me,” The Indian Express quoted the complaint as having said.

The complaint quoted Khan as alleging that the accused gathered a crowd and recorded videos while “raising objectionable slogans against my religion, seriously hurting the religious sentiments of both myself and the Muslim community”.

“When I opposed them, the accused paraded me in a public place, assaulted me and threatened to kill me,” Rahmani’s complaint said, quoting Khan.

The complaint also noted that Khan suffered “physical injuries and extreme mental trauma”, and the incident had created “an atmosphere of fear and insecurity” for him and his family.

Noting that the incident had caused “deep anger within the Muslim community” and could affect the city’s social atmosphere, Khan, in the complaint, also said that it was “a serious attack” on his fundamental rights and the spirit of the Constitution, The Indian Express reported.

Edited by Sneha.