Hubballi (Karnataka): Hindu activist Srikant Pujari, accused in the 1992 communal riots after Babri Masjid demolition, was released on bail here on Saturday.
Soon after coming out of jail, he asserted that he had fought for Ram temple in Ayodhya and would go there again. Police said they had picked up Pujari in December, 2023, in connection with the disposal of pending cases. It turned out that the accused had participated in the Ram temple agitation in 1992.
Police, however, maintained that there were 16 cases pending against him including bootlegging and that he was designated as 'rowdy' in two police stations. Soon after his release from jail, Pujari expressed his gratitude to the Hindu organisations, which fought for his release. "Thirty-one years ago I fought for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. I will go there again," Pujari told reporters.
According to him, the policemen who came to arrest him said that they wanted to take him to the market. "The policemen did not give me any warrant or summons. They just picked me up and put me in the lock-up," Pujari said. When asked if he was arrested intentionally by the Congress government ahead of the Ram temple inauguration on January 22, he said, "I don't know all that. They (police) just called me to the market and arrested (me)."
He dismissed the allegations that there were many pending cases against him. "There were no cases against me. I got all of them cleared one after the other. That's why I returned from Belagavi," Pujari said. Responding to a question, the Hindu activist said he was in jail for eight months in 1992. The BJP had made his arrest an issue and staged demonstrations across the state. It also launched a campaign called 'I'm a Kar Sevak. Arrest Me Too.'
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lashed out at the BJP, saying leaders of the opposition party need to understand that assigning caste and religious labels to criminals is extremely dangerous. "If any BJP leaders have a little wisdom, they should please read out the list of charges against this person from Hubballi and then decide whether to fight for him. Since Hindus are the majority in the population, they are also the majority in prisons. Does that mean BJP should fight for all of them because they belong to the Hindu religion," Siddaramaiah had asked. (Agency inputs)
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