Uttarakhand: Locals demand Bhim Army leader's arrest for threatening to bulldoze temple

A group of villagers led by the Karni Sena on Monday took out a protest march in Mori Bazar demanding the arrest of Bhim Army national vice president Manjit Singh Nautiyal for his statement threatening to bulldoze a temple if Dalits were stopped from entering it.

Karni Sena leader Thakur Shakti Singh led the procession through Mori Bazar with people raising slogans against Nautiyal, demanding his arrest and accusing him of hurting religious sentiments and trying to disrupt peace in the area, Circle Officer S S Bhandari said.

Nautiyal on Saturday met the family members of a man who was brutally assaulted with burning sticks by upper caste men for entering a temple in Salra village recently.

Accompanied by the injured Dalit youth's family members, he had then said in the presence of officials in Bainol village that he would bulldoze the temple if his people were stopped from entering it.

A video purportedly showing him making the provocative remarks had gone viral on social media.

Twenty-two-year-old Ayush, a resident of Bainol village, was attacked on January 9. He was still undergoing treatment at a hospital.

According to the victim's complaint to the police, some people belonging to the upper caste assaulted him at the temple, tied him up and singed him with burning sticks throughout the night.

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