Jharkhand Police hounds fruit sellers for naming shop ‘Hindu Phal Dukan,’ netizens destroy their logic

Off late, Hindus are being pin-pointed and specifically hounded in non-BJP governed states. Whether it be the mob lynching of two sadhus and their driver in Maharashtra’s Palghar, or whether it be the brutal attack on another sadhu in Punjab, followed by robbery; Hindus are being attacked and harassed in states which are being governed by the Congress.

In Jharkhand’s Jamshedpur, a group of Hindu fruit sellers were threatened by the state police for daring to have the word ‘Hindu’ written on their flex banners. The police, according to reports, first threatened them with arrest and dangerous consequences, and later left them with a stringent warning to never repeat such a ‘mistake’ again.

The fruit-sellers had written “Vishwa Hindu Parishad ki anumodit Hindu fal Dukan” which translates to “Hindu fruit shop approved by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.” The banners also had images of Bhagwan Ram and Bhagwan Shiva displayed on them.

Apparently, a Twitter handle, @AhsanRazi1 was particularly disturbed by the ‘brazen’ display of Hindu identity by the fruit sellers, who reported the same to Jharkhand Police. Jharkhand Police, meanwhile, bearing true loyalty to their new political masters, did not waste a single wakeful moment in ordering the Jamshedpur Police to look into the matter and “do the needful” as soon as possible.

Jamshedpur Police acted swiftly on the anti-Hindu directions given to them, and went on to harass the fruit sellers. In a tweet, their handle stated that they had taken immediate note of the matter and had the banners of concerned fruit shops removed. Further, they also slapped charges under section 107 of CrPc against the fruit sellers.

The strong-arming of innocent Hindus in Jharkhand caught everyone’s attention online, and the matter soon erupted on Twitter. Calling out the Jharkhand Police and government for their overtly visible Hinduphobia, users pointed out the hypocrisy in hounding innocent fruit sellers only because they wrote on their banners the word ‘Hindu’, while completely ignoring Muslims, who since times immemorial, have been writing words like “Halal/Islam/Muslim/Mughlai” on their banners and hoardings. Many also have their restaurants named in such a way that it includes the following words to state explicitly that the food prepared is done so while conforming to Islamic norms.

Users went on to tweet pictures of restaurants, hotels and dhabas from Jharkhand itself, where the following words were used by Muslims for their establishments.

Jharkhand Police is yet to take any kind of action on these establishments which are seen explicitly flaunting their religious connotations. Hindus never really reported petty issues like these to authorities, as opposed to the online activist who first reported the fruit sellers to the police. And since the to-be victims of state oppression were again Hindus, Jharkhand Police did not miss the opportunity. They might have also been directed to take action by the Chief Minister himself since all Congress CM’s seem to be running a marathon to please their godmother, Sonia Gandhi.

Even as “Halal-certified” commodities are forcefully imposed on all communities in India to consume, a bunch of Hindus naming their shops according to their faith in Congress-ruled states, somehow makes the heavens fall.

Halal is an explicit religiously discriminatory practice, which certifies that a product has been manufactured as per producers while using ingredients allowed under Islam.

Many products have the label of them being “Halal-certified”, and non-Muslims nevertheless use them without much of a fuss. Yet, plurality is a one-way street in secular India, and expecting reciprocation of tolerance is a far-fetched dream.

What also needs to be talked about, is the fact that Jamshedpur Police thought it befitting to charge the fruit sellers under section 107 of CrPc. On what grounds did they do so? What cause do they have with them to validate slapping of such frivolous charges against innocent fruit sellers? Or were they directed to do so by their higher-ups?

Section 107 CrPC is applicable when “imminent” breach of public peace is threatened. Such powers are to be exercised where the information received shows a strong probability of breach of public peace and not a bare possibility, (Chandrabhan v Indarbai, 1998 Bombay HC). Therefore, what was the imminent breach to peace which the police was concerned about? Does the word ‘Hindu’ now trigger breaches to public order in Congress-ruled states?

https://twitter.com/akshaynarang96/status/1254223404661702660?s=20

While liberals fume when one of their own comrades is rightfully booked under charges of UAPA or NSA, they are now maintaining a stony silence, since they are yet to grow a spine to question the Congress and its inherent sense of effectuating institutionalized oppression against Hindus.

This incident goes on to validate commonly held apprehensions among Hindus, that they are under threat as soon as the BJP is dislodged from power in any state. One can only imagine what the Congress would end up doing if it gets back to power in the Centre.