UP: 47 booked for communal remarks during protest against non-veg hotels in Shamli

Forty-seven Hindu activists have been booked in Shamli district for allegedly making communal statements during a meeting held to demand the closure of non-vegetarian hotels and restaurants, police said on Sunday.

The Hindu panchayat led by Mahant Swami Yashvir of Yog Sadhan Ashram Bhagra -- who has been named in the FIR -- was allegedly held in Thanabhawan town on September 29 without permission, they said.

Last Sunday, Hindu activists, including Yashvir, is also named in the FIR lodged on September 30."

In response to the police case lodged, Hindu activists have announced plans to stage a protest on October 10, opposing the charges levelled against their fellow activists.

The Indian Express reported that during the incident last week, hundreds of people led by Yashveer Maharaj, who runs the Yoga Sadhna Yashveer Ashram in the Uttar Pradesh village of Baghera, around 15 km from Muzaffarnagar, held a Hindu mahapanchayat outside a restaurant selling non-vegetarian food in Shamli town on Sunday, leading to its closure.

Protesters recited the Hanuman Chalisa and the Gayatri Mantra, interspersed with loud chants of "Jai Shri Ram," as they demanded the closure of all non-vegetarian restaurants within a 100-meter radius of temples in western Uttar Pradesh.

The mahapanchayat took place outside the Taj Hotel on the Delhi-Saharanpur highway, located less than 100 meters from the popular Panchtirth temple, which holds significant influence in the region.

Protesters claimed the restaurant had been shut down last month following a warning from Yashveer Maharaj, who threatened to launch an agitation if eateries near temples were not closed immediately.

"The restaurant reopened on Tuesday, September 24, after Samajwadi Party MP for Kairana, Iqra Chaudhary, held a Jan Sunwai on Monday, September 23. She assured the owner, Saalim, that she would raise the issue with District Magistrate Arvind Kumar Chauhan," said Bharat Bhushan Sharma, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader in Shamli.

"We will not allow any such restaurant to stay open," added Rakesh Rana, chief of the BJP's Shamli mandal unit.