Arijit Shashwat sent to 14-day judicial custody in Bhagalpur communal clash case

The son of Bihar BJP MP Ashwini Choubey earlier had his anticipatory bail plea rejected by a local court

Union Minister of State Ashwini Kumar Choubey's son and RSS leader Arijit Shashwat addresses a press conference in relation to allegations against him for triggering communal violence in Patna

Hours after a local court in Bhagalpur rejected his anticipatory bail in a communal clash case, Arijit Shashwat, son of BJP MP and Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Ashwini Choubey, surrendered before Patna police on Saturday midnight. He has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Mr. Shashwat reached the Hanuman temple near Patna railway station at midnight on Saturday along with over a dozen supporters and surrendered before the police, led by Additional Superintendent of Police Rakesh Dubey.

His supporters were chanting slogans like

Bharat Mata ki Jai, Jai Shri Ram and

Vande Mat

a

ram . “I’d not fled anywhere...I was here and had gone to the Court,” Mr. Shashwat said. “I’ve been falsely implicated in the case…I’m a political person…if chanting slogans like

Jai Shri Ram and Bharat Mata ki Jai are a crime in this country, then I’m a criminal”, added Mr. Shashwat.

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Earlier in the day, local court of Additional District and Session judge (IV) Kumud Ranjan Singh in Bhagalpur had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Mr. Shashwat. On March 26, Mr. Shashwat had moved an anticipatory bail application against an arrest warrant issued against him by a local court. The warrant was also issued against eight others in a communal clash case lodged against them at Nathnagar police station on March 17.

Mr. Shashwat was allegedly leading a rally of saffron clad youths when violence had erupted in the communally sensitive locality of Nathnagar after people belonging to a minority community objected to loud music being played during the rally.

Several people, including some policemen ,were injured in the clash while several shops and vehicles were set on fire.

Later, Mr. Shashwat while taking shelter in Patna, had said that he would not surrender before the court as he had done nothing wrong.

'FIR a piece of garbage'

His father, defending him, said he was proud of his son.

“The FIR filed against my son is nothing but a piece of garbage which was registered by corrupt officers of the area...my son has made no mistake…is chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai and Vande Mataram is a crime in the country?”, asked Mr. Choubey.

The State BJP leaders too came in defense of Mr. Shashwat and said he had done nothing wrong. “Since he has gone to Court why should he be arrested and blamed for the clash?”, asked the Bihar BJP leaders.

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However, leaders of the BJP’s ruling alliance, JD(U), said that “the law will take its own course and nobody will be spared”.

Significantly, after the Bhagalpur communal clashes such incidents flared up in at least six districts of Bihar including Samastipur, Aurangabad, Nawada, Nalanda, Munger and Sasaram.

The Opposition party leader Tejaswi Yadav blamed the BJP for fomenting communal tension in different parts of the State as “part of their larger design to polarize voters in the run up to the 2019 general elections” but on Saturday, Mr. Choubey accused RJD and Congress for “trying to flare up riots in Bihar” and also said that the NDA governments at the Centre and in the State would take stern action against such attempts.

“We will defeat the intention of the RJD and Congress to instigate riots. The conspirators wanted to cause riots, but no one dared to do so and we have kept Bihar under control. The Bihar government and the Centre will together defeat the attempts to disturb harmony in the State”, said Mr. Choubey.