Padmaavat protest; Motor mouth BJP leader detained in Haryana

The Haryana police on Thursday detained motor mouth BJP leader and Karni Sena member Suraj Pal Amu to prevent law and order situation from deteriorating in the wake of threats to disrupt a screening of movie Padmaavat.

Amu, 49, is also the media coordinator of the state BJP.

The police are unwilling to take chances after Wednesday's attack on a school bus with small children and teachers on board in Gurugram. As many as 31 people, including five suspects who, among others, were involved in the attack on the school bus, have been arrested. Close to three dozen cinema halls in Haryana are screening the movie even as an equal number, or even more, have decided against the screening fearing damage by hoodlums.      

Sena protest

Amu was the one who had announced a Rs 10 lakh bounty for anyone who beheaded filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali. His statements in the run-up to the release of the movie had the potential to disrupt peace in Haryana, which is why he was taken into preventive custody from his residence in Gurugram on Wednesday. Nearly two-dozen volunteers of the Shiv Sena raised slogans against the filmmaker and tried to storm a popular mall on the outskirts of capital city Chandigarh on Thursday. The police acted swiftly and thwarted attempts to barge into the mall.

Meanwhile, a petition was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking action against Karni Sena and other such outfits taking the law into their hands and indulging in violent acts to stall the movie despite the order of the apex court. Counsel for the petitioner Ranjan Lakhapal alleged that such disruptions were taking place in BJP-ruled states and had the tacit support of the saffron party.

The state government, in a statement, condemned the attack on the school bus by members of the Karni Sena.