78 Bajrang Dal, VHP workers held for protest at newspaper office

Policemen clash with Bajrang Dal and VHP workers, who were protesting near a media house in Kolkata, Thursday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

Seventy-eight VHP and Bajrang Dal workers were arrested while they were demonstrating near the office of a vernacular newspaper in Kolkata on Thursday against the alleged derogatory depiction of a Hindu Goddess in one of its magazines.

A few hundred workers of VHP and Bajrang Dal gathered near Chandni Chowk Metro station and tried to protest in front of the newspaper office. They raised slogans and tried to gherao the office where heavy police force was already deployed. From the spot, 62 men and 16 women were arrested.

Those arrested included VHP state vice-president Chandranath Das, Dharma Prachar Pramukh Dulal Chandra Das and VHP media in charge Sourish Mukherjee. They were taken to Lalbazar and later released on bail.