Delhi Police has arrested BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay over a case of inflammatory and anti-Muslim slogans being raised at a rally organised by him in Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Sunday. Singh, who was questioned by the police till late last night was arrested on Monday along with five others.
Tuesday's arrest came following widespread outrage after videos of the violent slogans threatening harm to Muslims went viral on news and social media.
The event, organised by former Delhi BJP spokesperson Upadhyay, was meant to be a rally against "colonial-era laws". According to reports, organisers of the event did not have permission from Delhi Police for conducting the same.
The incident raised alarm in the capital, which saw one of the worst forms of sectarian violence last year during the northeast Delhi riots in February. However, police only took action on Monday morning by registering an FIR a day after the incident.
The event at Jantar Mantar was part of the Bharat Jodo Andolan, coordinated by Upadhyay, against the scrapping of 222 colonial-era laws. The "movement" began on August 8 to mark the anniversary of the Quit India Movement. Posters of the event were being circulated on social media from beforehand. Representative of Indian Cinema at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Vivek Agnihotri also shared a poster for the same last week.
News of the arrests also comes following the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) issuing a notice to Delhi's deputy commissioner of police on Monday. The commission asked the commissioner to inform them about the action that had been taken in the matter.
