ABVP apologizes over Jain idol in UP; row ends

Baghpat (Uttar Pradesh): The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists apologized after threatening to remove the idol of Shrutdevi, the Jain goddess of learning, from the Digambar Jain College in Baghpat. The matter was finally resolved with ABVP's Baghpat district coordinator Ankur Chaudhary tendering an apology.

"We tender our apology to the Digambar Jain community and what occurred was due to our ignorance. No protest would be held in the future regarding the idol of Goddess Shrutdevi," said Chaudhary.

The Jain community leaders had demanded the immediate arrest of the ABVP activists who entered the college on Tuesday and threatened to remove the idol.

Although a complaint was lodged by college principal Virendra Singh the same day, the police did not register a case immediately against the activists. .

Baghpat Superintendent of Police Abhishek Singh said the case was registered against those named in the complaint by college principal Dr. Virendra Singh and some unidentified activists under Sections 147, 504, 506 and 427 of the Indian Penal Code.

He attributed the delay in registering the case to the police engagement in dealing with the ongoing farmers' protest in the district.

Earlier, Ajay Kumar Sharma, the station house officer of the Baraut police station said the ABVP activists were confused over the idol of the Jain goddess.

"They thought the Jains had modified an image of the Hindu goddess Saraswati. The matter has now been sorted out in a meeting between both sides," he said.

(IANS feed with minor edits)