Selu Municipal authorities are reportedly forcing Hindus to remove saffron flags and pictures of Hindu deities from their homes, citing the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The issue was flagged on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by the legal organisation Legal Rights Observatory (LRO), fighting for the rights of indigenous people.
In their post, LRO highlighted the issue of Hindu Persecution by the Collector and Police officials of Parbhani, who were misusing MCC to target Hindus residing in Selu deliberately. “Tyrannical mindset of the Nizam returns in Marathwada! Municipal Council authorities in Selu, District Parbhani, are indulging in religious persecution of Private Citizens under the pretext of implementing the Model Code of Conduct,” says their post.
The organisation has alleged that authorities are acting under political pressure from local representatives of pseudo-secular parties who are hand-in-glove with certain Nizami sections of the regional administration. Hindu families’ fundamental right to practice religion in the Vidyanagar colony and surrounding areas of Selu District is being blatantly violated by the Selu Municipal Council’s authorities.
It further says that Hindus are being forced to remove pictures of their Gods as well as saffron flags from their homes. When devout Hindus refuse to comply with such illegal diktats, they are being subjected to coercive measures under the garb of administrative action by the Selu Municipal Council’s representatives without following due process of law.
LRO has requested the Chief Executive Officer of Selu Municipal Council, Parbhani district’s Superintendent of Police and the District Election Officer to take cognisance of these illegal and oppressive acts by some aspects in the Selu Municipal Council to ensure that such repressive oral firmans are withdrawn immediately, and the religious sentiments of private Hindu Citizens are respected.
They have warned that any mala fide exercise of administrative power to target law-abiding devout Hindus merely to appease certain politicians and promote a certain political agenda would escalate tensions and could also lead to a law-and-order situation in these areas. They stated that authorities alone would be responsible for any untoward incident or law-and-order crisis in the area.
