India: VHP's Sadhvi Prachi’s “Beti Bachao Mahapanchayat" game in Bareilly

The Indian Express

VHP enters, calls ‘Beti Bachao’ meet over Bareilly eve-teasing
The Mahapanchayat is being purportedly held over incidents of “regular eve-teasing” of girls.

Written by Maulshree Seth | Bareilly | Published: July 27, 2015 12:00 am

BJP leaders hold a panchayat with locals of Paharpur village in Bareilly Sunday. (Vishal Srivastav)

VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi’s call for a “Beti Bachao Mahapanch-ayat” in Bareilly’s Paharpur village on July 27 has sparked tension in the area.

The Mahapanchayat is being purportedly held over incidents of “regular eve-teasing” of girls from Thakur-dominated Paharpur, allegedly at the hands of boys from the neighbouring Tanda village, while crossing a river on the way to school.

While BJP leaders camped in the village to take credit for the arrest of five boys, who belonged to the Muslim community, they insisted that the Mahapanchayat was Sadhvi Prachi’s brainchild and party had nothing to do with it.

However, the local Ittehad-e-Millat Council MLA Shazil Islam, who shifted his loyalties to the ruling Samajwadi Party in 2012, said that he had conveyed to senior police officers that Sadhvi’s arrival would certainly disturb peace in the area.

“Arrests have been made, security to the school promised, now what more do they want? My sympathies are with the girls, but action has been taken. I have requested the local police not to allow such panchayat,” Islam said.

When contacted, Sadhvi Prachi said: “It is true that arrests have been made but the girls are still afraid. We need to boost their confidence. And so, on July 27, sadhus from Ayodhya would reach Bareilly to hold Beti Bachao Mahapanchayat.”

Asked about BJP leaders being reluctant to join the Mahapanchayat, Sadhvi said, “If they want to support girls of their region then they can, otherwise they can sit at home.”

While villagers in Paharpur blamed Samajwadi Party for “initially giving shelter to the boys of a particular community”, people in Tanda accused the BJP for trying to give things a “communal colour”.

Many claimed that over the past several decades, complaints of eve-teasing of girls while crossing the river were sorted out by village elders.

But after the latest incident on July 20, over 150 children from Paharpur, including girls, stopped going to school. Many parents said they feared a revenge attack on their children while crossing the river.

“We should get a bridge over the river or an intermediate college in the village. These things happen because we have to walk over 3 km each day to reach school, including crossing of this river,” a girl studying in Class XI said.

Like many others in her village, she too has stopped going to school.

In Muslim-dominated Tanda village, from where the five arrested boys hail, villagers questioned the July 20 incident where the boys were thrashed on their way back home at around 11 am, which was neither the time of the girls going to their school or returning from it.

“The BJP leaders did it. They visited Paharpur village daily and created pressure on police to arrest my innocent brothers.” said Zainab Ali, cousin of Sharafat Ali, who had lodged the first FIR after being beaten up along with three other boys on July 20.

He was among the five boys arrested by the police on July 23 after a complaint by Paharpur villagers was registered following the intervention of DIG R K S Rathore on July 22.

Distancing themselves from the Mahapanchayat, BJP leaders said that they only wanted the culprits to be punished.

“We had to intervene because administration was favouring one particular community. It was after our intervention and that of Union Minister Santosh Gangawar that an FIR against was lodged and the boys arrested. We have nothing to do with any Mahapanchayat now,” claimed Arun Kumar, BJP MLA from Bareilly city.

Asked about the proposed Mahapanchayat, Bareilly SSP Dharamveer said: “While security arrangements in the area are in place, we have not received any application regarding any Mahapanchayat so far.”

District Magistrate Gaurav Dayal said that the administration was doing its best to make the girls feel safe.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/vhp-enters-calls-beti-bachao-meet-over-bareilly-eve-teasing/

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The Indian Express

Hindutva leader Sadhvi Prachi arrested for defying orders
A case of damaging government property and attacking police force against five persons has been lodged.


By: PTI | Bareilly | Published:July 27, 2015 8:34 pm

Firebrand Hindutva leader Sadhvi Prachi was on Monday arrested while she was on her way to hold a Mahapanchayat on the eve-teasing issue in Paharpur village under Shergarh police station area.

The district administration had denied permission for the Mahapanchayat and put up barriers all along the route from Bareilly, but the Sadhvi somehow reached the village where she was arrested from a temple, police said.

She had given a call for the Mahapanchayat following reports that some 100 girls had stopped going to school in Paharpur and adjacent villages because of eve-teasing in the past one week and failure of police to check it.

SP (Rural) Brijesh Srivastava said seven eve teasers have been arrested.

The Sadhvi was later released in Mirganj police station area on the Bareilly border after sometime, the SP said adding five luxury vehicles in the cavalcade of the Sadhvi which tried to speed past the barriers were impounded.

A case of damaging government property and attacking police force against five persons has been lodged.

There have been reports of rise in cases of eve-teasing in the area and the matter had also been reported to the police.

Some 100 girls in the area had stopped going to school in the past week because of these incidents and the Hindutva organisations had come out in support of the girls and their families.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/hindutva-leader-sadhvi-prachi-arrested-for-defying-orders/