New Delhi: Extremist Hindutva supporters beat up Hindu monks, mistaking them for being members of the Muslim community. The incident took place in Meeram in Uttar Pradesh, where Gaurav Kumar, Gopinath and Sunil Kumar, natives of Haryana, were attacked. One of the accused launched a footage of the monks getting beaten on social media. It is learned that the Hindu monks were attacked by the group, thinking that they were Muslims belonging to a group of child kidnappers.
The assailants asked the victims, who told them that they were Hindus but asked the monks to recite Hanuman Chalisa and other hymns. But they made a mistake while reciting the same, and the accused attacked them with a stick. When the police came to know about the incident, they took the victims into custody, and after examining their Aadhaars, Police identified the monks as belonging to the Hindu community and hailing from Yamunanagar in Haryana. They were later released. The police claim that they are conducting an investigation to find the assailants in the incident.
Once apprehended, local people there accused the monks of tarnishing the reputation of the Hindu community and suspected them of child abduction. But the police said that the monks were members of the Nath community and had no criminal history. They make a living out of travelling and carry valid identifications with them.
Atl News co-founder Mohammed Zubair shared photos of the Monks getting beaten on X. He wrote, "In Meerut, UP, Three sadhus were beaten/threatened with a stick and were accused of being Muslims disguised as Hindu Sadhus associated with a child-kidnapping gang. Police reached the spot and brought the three sadhus to the police station. On enquiry by police, all the allegations were found to be false. All three Sadhus (Gaurav, Gopi, Sunil) are Hindus and are residents of Haryana belonging to the Nath sect/community. Later, the police released all three Sadhus."