An FIR has been lodged towards eight individuals for tearing pages of Ramcharitmanas, an epic poem in Awadhi language penned by Goswami Tulsidas, after which burning it in Vrindavan Yojna space of Lucknow late on Sunday, police stated.

The FIR has been lodged on the PGI police station of Lucknow.

Station House Officer (SHO) Rajesh Rana stated that they acquired a criticism from a BJP member, Satnam Singh Lavi, on the idea of which the FIR was lodged.

“Unsavoury feedback towards Ramcharitmanas and burning of its pages in public could create a rift in society and result in communal rigidity. The accused spoke towards the holy ebook on social media and thus damage the emotions of Hindus,” he added.

The SHO said that the accused named by Satnam Singh in his FIR are Yashpal Singh Lodhi, Devendra Yadav, Mahendra Pratap Yadav, Naresh Singh, SS Yadav, Sujit, Santosh Verma and Salim.

They all have been booked under sections 153-A (promoting enmity), 295 A (outrage religious feelings), 505 (to incite outrage) and 298 (hurt religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66 of the IT Act.

The police said that the accused named in the FIR had come out in support of Samajwadi Party MLC Swami Prasad Maurya under the banner of Akhil Bhartiya OBC Mahasabha on Sunday.

Maurya had recently caused a row when he raised objections to certain verses from the book and termed them ‘against women, backwards and Dalits’.

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