Copyright thehindu
Tensions mounted in some villages of Aligarh district in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday (October 25, 2025) after unidentified miscreants wrote religious slogans like “I Love Muhammad” on the walls of four temples in the intervening night, prompting police intervention and deployment of heavy force to control protestors who alleged attempts were being made to disturb communal harmony. Slogans were written in temples at four different locations in Bhagwanpur and Bulaqigarh villages in the district and the police promptly removed them to maintain peace and prevent any disturbance to law and order. However, the protestors demanded immediate action against the culprits. Activists of the Karni Sena reached Bhagwanpur and Bulaqigarh villages demanding action against culprits. ‘Going through CCTV footage’ The police registered a complaint against seven people under Sections 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 351 (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) at Lodha police station in Aligarh. Forensic teams of police are scrutinising CCTV footage from the surrounding areas to identify the culprits. “On receiving information about religious slogans being written on the temples, myself along with the local police teams inspected all the temples of Bulaqigarh and Bhagwanpur villages. The religious slogans written on the four temples have been removed. We talked with villagers, asking them to maintain peace and cooperate with the police,” said Neeraj Kumar Jaduan, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Aligarh. He added that the police are investigating all aspects and angles in the matter. “An earlier dispute in the village has also come to light. A thorough investigation is being conducted on all aspects. A case is being registered in the matter. Orders have been given to take strict punitive action against the accused involved in the incident. There is peace at the spot and in the area,” said the SSP. Opposition criticism The Opposition hit out at the government for failing to prevent communal flare-ups and aiding anti-social elements with unnecessary issues to polarise the social environment. “Law and order condition has totally collapsed in Uttar Pradesh. Every day, we hear incidents of atrocities on common people and flare-ups, which can polarise the society. The ruling BJP has helped the anti-social elements and miscreants by creating a divisive environment in the state. We demand from the administration and law enforcement agencies to take all necessary measures for stopping any breach of law,” said Ajay Rai, U.P. Congress president. Bareilly witnessed violence on September 26 over the “I Love Muhammad” posters row after an Islamic cleric and chief of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council Tauqeer Raza Khan announced a sit-in protest in response to alleged instances of derogatory remarks against the Prophet in different parts of the country, including Shahjahanpur. Besides, a controversy also erupted over the posters, during a Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi procession in Kanpur, when the posters resulted in Kanpur police registering cases against 24 people, amid objections from right-wing Hindu groups over a “deviation from tradition”.
