BJP mayor’s video shows no act of dumping, yet three arrested in alleged selective action against Muslims
text_fields
Another incident of the BJP government castigating the Muslim community through the selective application of the law was exposed by the arrest of three Muslim men linked to a local Ghaziabad madrasa, occurring just a day after the city's mayor and former state BJP vice-president, Sunita Dayal, posted a video of herself intercepting two Muslim children.
While Dayal alleged that the children were attempting to dump animal waste into the Hindon River, the footage nowhere shows them doing so, creating the distinct impression that the video was entirely staged.
The controversy erupted on May 24 when Sunita Dayal posted a video on her official Facebook page claiming she had intercepted two Muslim boys carrying “cow meat remains” near the Hindon Barrage in Indirapuram, while the over two-minute clip showed the visibly frightened minors, wearing skull caps and standing beside a bicycle carrying a yellow sack, being subjected to an aggressive communal tirade by the mayor before several men, according to The Wire.
In the video, Dayal could be heard declaring, “Isi desh ka khayenge aur yahin gandagi karenge,” while also threatening action against the madrassa allegedly linked to the children, asserting that she would ensure it was permanently sealed.
The footage, further, displayed the unblurred faces of the minors despite legal prohibitions under the Juvenile Justice Act against revealing the identities of children, while the boys, appearing intimidated and under visible duress, answered questions in a subdued manner.
Despite Dayal’s categorical allegations, the video itself did not contain any visual evidence of either the children or accompanying adults disposing of material into the river, although the mayor later insisted that the boys were “about to throw” the contents before being stopped.
On May 25, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested three Muslim men identified as Zubair, Aijaz and Shoaib, all allegedly associated with a local madrassa, while registering an FIR under Sections 271, 272 and 279 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining respectively to negligent and malignant acts likely to spread dangerous infections and fouling public water bodies.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Abhishek Srivastava confirmed that forensic examination of the meat sample was underway and stated that further legal action would depend upon the laboratory report.
The episode also drew attention to what critics described as selective outrage, particularly since a 2024 study by Down To Earth had characterised the Hindon river as “a drain carrying domestic and industrial waste”, while no previous instance could be located of Sunita Dayal demanding similar criminal action despite numerous videos in the public domain showing people dumping garbage into the river.