Bajrang Dal vandalises Muslim man's juice shop in UP; claims shop named after Hindu deity

'New Sai Juice Centre' in the Majhola area of Moradabad district, run by Shabbu Khan, was vandalised and forced to shut down. The Bajrang Dal activists alleged that Sai Baba is a Hindu deity and must not be the name of a juice shop run by a Muslim man for the past 15 years. They further threatened to shut all shops in the locality named after Hindu deities and run by Muslims.

"I was about to have dinner at home on Thursday when I was shocked to learn that a few people were vandalising my shop. They asked me to close my shop because of my faith. This shop is part of my life and my family," said Khan.

Though the FIR was registered recently after videos of the incident started circulating on social media, it took place three days ago. Bajrang Dal leader Navneet Sharma and his aides have been named in the FIR for 'rioting and criminal intimidation'. Locals allege that the police initially remained mute spectators of the vandalism and then went on to advise Shabbu. Sources say that the police even advised the owner to change the shop's name "to avoid further trouble".

"We found that about 20-25 people, led by Navneet Sharma, had forcefully closed the juice shop. They also slapped its owner. We have registered an FIR under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 147 (rioting) against Sharma and his aides," said Majhola Station house officer (SHO) Dhananjay Singh.

The right-wing activists, too, filed a complaint with the police against Khan. However, it is "not convincing enough as the man has been running the shop for 15 years and there has been no issue so far," said the police. No arrests have been made thus far.