A local Hindu priest paraded nearby a Mosque in Uttar Pradesh, announcing that Muslim women would be kidnapped and raped.
The incident happened outside a mosque in Sitapur, a district in the Lucknow division in Uttar Pradesh, India.
On April 7, Mohammad Zubair, a fact-checker and co-founder of Alt News, an independent fact-checking website in India, posted a video on Twitter. The video shows a Mahant sitting on the passenger side of a car, broadcasting a speech through a microphone.
TRIGGER WARNING!
A Mahant in front of a Masjid in the presence of Police personals warns that He would K!dnap Muslim Women and ₹@pe them in Open.
According to the locals near Sheshe wali Masjid, Khairabad, Sitapur. This happened on 2nd Apr 2022, 2 PM. @sitapurpolice @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/wkBNLnqUW0— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 7, 2022
Zubair warned his followers of a possible “trigger warning in his tweet.” “A Mahant in front of a mosque in the presence of the police personnel warns that he would kidnap Muslim women and rape them in the open,” he said.
The video pans outside, revealing a crowd gathered around the car where the Hindu priest was sitting.
According to NDTV, a major broadcast and digital news agency in India, the crowd cheered “Jai Shri Ram” as the priest announced his vile plan.
If a Muslim man harrases any girl in the area, the Hindu priest will kidnap Muslim women and publicly rape them, NDTV reported.
The growing Hindutva movement, empowered by Narendra Modi’s ultra-conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), creates a fissure in Indian society. Earlier this year, the high court of Karnataka ruled that female Muslim students are not allowed to wear hijabs inside the classroom.
Karnataka also banned Muslim businesses from opening during a Hindu festival last month.
According to the HindutvaWatch, an independent research initiative that monitors attacks by Hindus and the Hindutva militia groups on religious minorities, a movie is exacerbating anti-Muslim sentiments in India.
The movie “won accolades from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has been fanning anti-Muslim sentiments in the country,” HindutvaWatch said.
A captioned version of the video was posted by Zubair the next day. In the captioned video, the Hindu priest accused the local Muslim community of putting a bounty on his head, “2.8 million rupees were collected for my murder,” the priest said.
Video with English Caption. pic.twitter.com/fUTtvuaYXX
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 7, 2022
“Neither your place nor you people will remain,” the priest threatened.
The captioned version shows a watermark from HindutvaWatch.
Zubair also posted footage of the same incident, showing cops escorting the Hindu priest.
Here is the same video taken from a different angle.. How many Police Personals can you see in this video while the Mahant is giving Rape threats to Muslim Women?
CC : @sitapurpolice @Uppolice #ArrestBajrangMuni pic.twitter.com/VxWD2V4xXe— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) April 8, 2022
