Viral video: UP BJP leader threatens police for filing case against Hindus

Meerut: A local BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut has been caught on camera bullying the police force to withdraw a case against him and others.

The leader, Kapil Dutt Sharma, had been named in a case linked to a communal flare-up, according to an NDTV report.

In the video, Sharma shouts at a senior police official saying, "How did you file a case against Hindus?"

Widely circulated in western Uttar Pradesh, the video was taken on a mobile phone camera last Saturday.

Meerut district police chief, Manzil Saini said that a detailed report was sent to the police headquarters in this connection.

"We have sent an intelligence report on this individual to our senior officers... There have been instances of misbehaviour earlier too", she added.

Sharma, a local BJP leader and formerly also an office bearer in the local party unit, barged into the office of Man Singh Chauhan, a senior police official in Meerut.

He was accompanied by eminent members of Meerut's business community.

During a flare-up between Hindu and Muslim shopkeepers on Thursday, Sharma went to a market area, sided with one community and later went to the police station in favour of that community.

"Will these people not call anyone? Did I get to the spot and create a ruckus? I was helping the police in fact. And then I find out that there is a case against me? What enmity are you taking out against me? And what enmity do you have against Hindus, that you filed a case against them?" Sharma is seen telling the senior police officer, insisting that the Hindus were living in a part of the city where they were in a minority, and suppressed.

In the video, the officer is continuously shouted down by Sharma, who says, "This has happened because of you, and you are filing a case against our people? You don't know Meerut's history. You don't know?"

"What will you say? You tell me how you filed a case against Hindus? You think we are 'bhaade ke tattoos' (hired men who can be taken lightly)? How did you file a case against Hindus?" an aggressive Sharma continued.

Police officers have confirmed the leader is known for such hooliganism.

In 2017, Sharma repeatedly slapped a woman who tried to enter his Meerut residence.

The entire incident was caught on camera and Sharma lost his position as an office bearer in the city's BJP unit.

He, however, continues to remain an influential member within the party and identifies himself as a 'gau rakshak,' or cow protector.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) said Sharma's behaviour reflected what was happening across Uttar Pradesh.

SP spokesperson Juhi Singh said, "If a police officer wants to act in an impartial manner, he or she is being threatened. This person is a member of the BJP and the party supported him in threatening the police officer."