Madarsa students beaten for not chanting 'Jai Shri Ram'

Four students of a 'madarssa' (Islamic Seminary) were injured, when they were allegedly assaulted by saffron activists at a playground in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao town, about 60 kilometres from here, after they refused to chant 'Jai Shriram'.

According to the police sources here, two youths, one of whom was the secretary of the district unit of BJP youth wing, were arrested in this connection.

Sources said that some students of the 'madarssa' were playing cricket on the playground on Thursday, when four youths reached there and snatched their bats.

''They asked us to chant Jai Shriram,'' said one of the students.

They said that the youths started beating them with the bats, when they refused to do their bidding. ''They also pelted stones at us, when we tried to run away from there,'' the student said.

Four students, who suffered major injuries, were admitted to the hospital, sources said.

Police later swung into action and nabbed two youths, identified as Aditya Shukla and Kranti Kumar, on charges of assaulting the students. Kranti Kumar was the secretary of the BJP Youth Wing's district unit.

''We have registered a case and efforts are on to trace the other accused persons,'' said a senior police official in Unnao.

The incident triggered tension in the town as hundreds of saffron activists laid a siege to the Kotwali police station demanding immediate release of the arrested youths, sources said adding that security personnel in strength had been deployed to maintain order.