How a Barawafat light board sparked tension over ‘new practices’ in Kanpur; FIR lodged

As part of the law and order directives during religious procession, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has been emphasizing traditional practices and routes.

The FIR, lodged on a complaint by Sub-Inspector Pankaj Sharma, stated that on September 4, after members of the local Hindu community opposed the installation of the light board, members of the Muslim community insisted on retaining it, sparking a heated exchange and communal tension.

“It was only after intervention by senior officers that the crowd was calmed and order restored. The board was removed and relocated, and both opposing groups were dispersed to ensure normalcy,” the police said

The things, however, did not end there.

The following day, on September 5, police said that during the Barawafat procession at Rawatpur village, unidentified Muslim youths allegedly tore down religious posters belonging to the Hindu community. “The youths, riding in two vehicles that were part of the procession, reportedly damaged the posters using sticks,” the police said, adding that five days later, on September 10, when they received CCTV footage and video recordings of both incidents, an FIR was registered against 24 people — 9 named and 15 unidentified – at the Rawatpur police station.

Among those named in the FIR are Barawafat procession organisers Sharafat Hussain, Shabnoor Alam, Babu Ali, Mohammad Siraj, Fazu Rahman, Ikram Ahmad, and Iqbal.

No arrests have been made so far.

According to the FIR, “an attempt was also made to deliberately start a new tradition by putting up a ‘I LOVE MUHAMMAD’ banner at one Kunnu Kabadi’s place in Rawatpur village, which resulted in communal tension and confrontation”.

The FIR has been registered under BNS sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Kanpur) Kapil Deo Singh said: “The FIR was lodged because new practices, different from the traditional trends during Barawafat, were introduced, which led to objections from certain sections of people.”