Kolkata: Hindutva outfit’s leader, three others arrested for allegedly attacking journalists
The journalists were reportedly beaten up when they went to talk to members of a Muslim family, who had allegedly converted to Hinduism.
The leader of Hindutva outfit Hindu Samhati, Tapan Ghosh, was arrested on Wednesday after his organisation’s activists allegedly assaulted journalists at an event in Kolkata’s Dharmatala locality, The Hindu reported. The organisation held a rally to mark its 10th anniversary on Wednesday.
The police also arrested three other members of the organisation, IANS quoted the Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Crime), Praveen Kumar Tripathi, as saying.
The journalists were reportedly beaten up when they tried to talk to members of a Muslim family, who had allegedly converted to Hinduism. The organisation’s leader Tapan Ghsh did not intervene when the journalists were being manhandled, news channel ABP Ananda reported. The speakers at the event also made incendiary comments, the news channel added.
#Kolkata: 14 members of a Muslim family allegedly converted to Hinduism at an event by Hindu Samhati. Journalists attacked by Hindu Samhati workers at the venue, reportedly when they tried to speak to the family. pic.twitter.com/Trq35mEWdq
— ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2018
In October 2017, Ghosh had told the crowd at the House of Commons in the United Kingdom that Hindus were having “their daughters and sisters snatched away by what is called love jihad”. The event was organised by the National Council of Hindu Temples, a lobby group for British Hindus, The Guardian had reported. Senior leaders of the Conservative Party later distanced themselves from Ghosh.
“Love jihad” is a term that Hindutva organisations frequently use to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to marry women from other religions with the sole purpose of converting them to Islam.