4 Muslim men arrested, accused of 'love jihad' after Bajrang Dal storm college festival

Four Muslim men were arrested from Oxford College in Indore after Bajrang Dal members stormed the venue of the college Garba dance and demanded the college remove non-Hindus from the event. In the police complaint, Bajrang Dal member Tarun Devdas alleged that the college had "encouraged" Muslims to attend and sold tickets to the performance instead of keeping an audience limit of 800.

Police said that the arrests were made to placate the angry crowd which had gathered during the ruckus. The four arrested are now out on bail.

Adnan Shah, one of the students arrested spoke to reporters about the issue. He alleged that the Bajrang Dal members had singled him out using his student ID even though he had been there as part of 25 student volunteers organising the event.

"They asked me to step aside after hearing my name," said Shah to NDTV.

Shah said that he had been helping visitors organise and park cycles when the Bajrang Dal entered the campus. They had also claimed "love jihad" was being practised on campus, he said. Relatives of the other men concurred and said that they had also been invited to the event but were taken away after arrest and accused of 'love jihad'.

Posters vowing to disallow non-Hindus from Garba dances and Navaratri celebrations had also appeared in other parts of Madhya Pradesh, especially outside colleges.

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