Jharkhand BJP chief, Union minister booked after clash at BJYM rally

An FIR was registered on Saturday, 24 August, against 12,000 people, including 51 identified individuals, for allegedly being involved in a clash with police personnel during a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) rally in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi, officials said.

Some prominent BJP leaders, including the party's Jharkhand unit president Babulal Marandi, leader of opposition in the Assembly Amar Kumar Bauri, Union minister Sanjay Seth and former central minister Arjun Munda, were named in the FIR, they said.

Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) Chandan Kumar Sinha told PTI, "An FIR has been lodged at Ranchi's Lalpur police station on the statement of the magistrate."

Action against these people would be taken soon, he said.

Lalpur police station in-charge Rupesh Kumar Singh said, "The FIR was registered against 12,000 people, including 51 identified individuals."

Meanwhile, BJP workers on Saturday staged demonstrations at all district headquarters and police stations against the police action on Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers during the rally on Friday.

A scuffle broke out between the police and BJP youth wing workers who broke barricades during the protest rally here against the "injustice" meted out by the Hemant Soren government and its "failure to fulfil election promises".

The police used tear gas shells and water cannons and fired rubber bullets to disperse the BJYM workers.

Both sides claimed that several protesters and policemen were injured in the melee.

The district administration had enforced Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which replaced Section 144 of the CrPC, within a 500-metre radius of the venue, the Morabadi Ground, excluding the premises.

The prohibitory orders banned public meetings, rallies, dharnas, demonstrations and gatherings of five or more people within this perimeter from 11 am to 11 pm on Friday.