Patna (CNA News/Insaaf Times) Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) harassed a group of Muslim men from West Bengal and reported them to the police in Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh after they prayed namaz on the roadside.Although the incident took place on September 11, it came to limelight after videos of the event were made viral on social media on September 13. The group was on their way to Rajasthan’s Ajmer Sharif.They were offering namaz on the Lucknow-Delhi highway near a dhaba when VHP members allegedly assaulted them and said that praying on the roadside was prohibited in Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh.The Muslims were released from the police station after a written apology and no action was taken against the VHP members.The station house officer of Tilhar police station, Virendra Singh, told TOI, “We spoke with both the parties and didn’t get any evidence that namaz was offered publicly.”However, in the video clip, a man was heard saying “The ones who offered namaz will have to go to jail,” and in another video, an elderly man is seen apologizing to the VHP leader.A lot of activists took to twitter to criticize the right-wing group’s action. They argued that when Hindus can conduct poojas in malls and colleges why then is offering namaz banned?
