Akali Dal’s Muslim wing Punjab President Furqan ‘Bablu’ Qureshi (55) was arrested in Ludhiana, Punjab on Monday for making an offensive Facebook post on Bhagwan Sri Ram. Initially, the police refused to lodge any FIR and complainants Aman Sappal, Mohit Syal and others protested outside Tibba police station. Members of various Hindu organisations and political parties too joined in, before police finally acted against the accused.

In its report from 19 April, Times of India has identified the accused merely by his moniker Bablu, apparently to hide his identity.

Inspector Ranbir Singh, station house officer at Tibba police station, said the accused has been booked under sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) of IPC.

The next day, complainant Aman Sappal of New Madhopuri said that assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Kulwinder Singh called him to the police station for signing some documents. When he got there with three friends, they found Qureshi’s 150-odd armed supporters waiting for them with sticks, iron rods, and pistols.

Sappal said that they all attacked him and his friends, and had the cops not pushed them into a room, the assailants would have killed them. Hindu groups and BJP’s Gurdev Sharma Debi reached the spot and demanded action against the attackers. Inspector Ranbir Singh confirmed that Quershi’s supporters started a spat with the complainant, but claimed there was no physical assault as police intervened ‘in time’.

He added that accused Furqan Qureshi created a scene and self-inflicted injuries. This was likely done to try and trap the Hindu side with a false counter-complaint. “Qureshi did create a ruckus by hitting his head against the door, tearing his clothes, and lying on the floor when brought out of the lockup for some formalities. It was all captured in the police station’s CCTV camera. Police will take further action,” Ranbir Singh said.

In a video of the attempted assault inside the police station, even minor children wearing the Muslim skullcap can be seen, while some teenage Muslim youth are seen recording the incident.

After this incident on Tuesday, various Hindu outfits again gathered at the police station and staged a protest, demanding action against all those who had assaulted the complainant.

Aman Sappal said that Qureshi had posted a cartoon of Bhagwan Ram with some objectionable text after which he lodged a police complaint. Sappal said that instead of taking action against Qureshi, ASI Kulwinder Singh misbehaved with him forcing Hindus to hold a dharna outside the police station. Only then was the FIR lodged.

Qureshi has since been presented in court, and was ordered to be sent back to jail. Amar Ujala has reported that police has also started an enquiry against ASI Kulwinder Singh. However, it is not known if any action has been taken against the 150-strong mob that attacked the Hindu complainants inside the police station.

This incident tells us several things

1.) Islamists in Punjab are now emboldened enough to openly denigrate Hindu Dharma and even gather in large numbers to attempt mob lynching inside a police station

2.) Cases of Punjab Police’s hostility towards Hindus are emerging with alarming frequency. A few days back, after a Sikh youth desecrated a Bhagwan Shiv- Maa Parvati image on the day of Ashtami in Dorangala, Gurdaspur, local Hindus alleged the police SHO and his team did not take appropriate action and in fact tried to stoke communal tensions over the issue.

3.) Hindus opt for the legal route to deal with incidents of sacrilege and denigration of our deities, which are exploding at an alarming rate. Yet, the first instinct of police is to ignore these complaints or water down the charges. Even if police and lower judiciary take proper action against anti-Hindu bigots like Munawar Faruqui, Hinduphobic Supreme Court judges intervene to get the accused off on minor technicalities. Contrast this with the ‘direct action’ taken by Muslim mobs whipped into a frenzy by their maulanas over allegations of anti-Islam social media content – examples of which we saw in Hubballi, Bengaluru, Baduria. Often times, either the blasphemy allegation levelled by Islamists is false, or such posts appear as an emotional backlash to non-stop offensive commentary against Hindu Dharma and slurs like ‘cow-piss drinkers’ which even Lutyens’ elites have mainstreamed.

It is the duty of every Hindu to emulate the likes of Aman Sappal and ensure that bigots like Furqan Qureshi don’t get a free pass to abuse Hindu Dharma. If the secular State fails to respond, organize in large numbers to force it to act. If our judicial system goes soft on anti-Hindu elements, then we must again organize to protest against such judgements. Any politician who gets elected through Hindu votes must be made answerable on Hindu issues. Our only loyalty is to Dharma, as that is what has nurtured this civilization for millennia. No more tolerance for anti-Hindu bigotry.