Second FIR against SP's Maurya, others for burning Ramcharitmanas copies

An FIR was registered in Pratapgarh on Wednesday against Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya and others in connection with alleged burning of copies of the Ramcharitamanas in Lucknow by an outfit called All India OBC Mahasabha.

This is the second FIR against Maurya in connection with the incident.

The Lucknow police had booked him and nine others in the matter on January 30.

The Akhil Bharatiya OBC Mahasabha organised a protest in the Vrindavan Yojana sector in Lucknow on January 29, apparently in solidarity with Maurya, who had on January 22 claimed that the Hindu epic contained passages discriminatory against women and backward castes.

The group claimed that its members only burnt photocopies of pages allegedly carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in the Ramcharitmanas.

An FIR was lodged against SP national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya, the party's Raniganj MLA R K Verma and other unidentified people at Nagar Kotwali police station on a complaint by advocate Santosh Kumar Mishra, Superintendent of Police Satpal Antil said.

Mishra has alleged that Maurya and Verma have insulted the Ramcharitmanas, the SP said.

The complainant alleged that the accused abused the Hindu society and used derogatory words to insult all 'Manas' lovers, due to which there is a lot of resentment among the public.

Antil said an investigation has been launched in the matter.

Ramcharitmanas, an epic poem in Awadhi language, is based on the Ramayana and has been composed by 16th-century Bhakti movement poet Tulsidas.

Maurya, a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, had kicked up a controversy by alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste and demanded that these be "banned."