Aligarh (UP), July 15 The Aligarh police, on Tuesday, booked 116 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal for allegedly staging an illegal protest and chanting 'Hanuman Chalisa' inside the police station, while demanding the arrest of BSP councillor, Saddam Hussein, for his controversial Facebook post on the Mahakaal temple in Ujjain.
The councillor has already been booked but the activists were demanding his arrest, failing which they threatened with a mass agitation.
Hussein has been booked under section 67 of the IT Act and section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Quawarsi police station. The councillor has since been absconding.
According to reports, the BSP councillor from Jamalpur, in his Facebook post, said that the Mahakaal temple, where the absconding gangster Vikas Dubey was caught after the killing of eight policemen, was a 'terrorist spot'.
Hussein also demanded the sealing of the temple and an investigation into how many terrorists have taken shelter there till now.
Hussein later denied the post and even posted a video on social media, claiming that someone was trying to malign his image as he did not post anything that would hurt the sentiments of any religion.
"My Facebook ID has been checked. I never post anything that hurts the sentiments of anyone," he claimed.
Bajrang Dal city convenor, Gaurav Sharma, meanwhile, said they would continue their protest till the BSP leader was arrested. He said that they would not tolerate the insult of Mahakaal Temple.
The protest was called off after senior police officers assured them of Hussein's early arrest.
Civil Lines circle officer Anil Samaniya said as many as 116 activists, including 16 identified, were booked under sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the IPC and section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, section 56 of the Disaster Management Act and for violating prohibitory orders at Quawarsi police station.
( With inputs from IANS )