UP Police arrest Mahant Bajrang Muni in case of giving alleged rape threats among other charges

New Delhi, April 15

The UP Police arrested Mahant Bajrang Muni for allegedly issuing rape threats in Sitapur.

The police arrested the Bajrang Muni, who is a manager of Shri Laxmandas Udasin Ashram from Sitapur and produced him in the local court. 

Bajrang allegedly made the remark when a Kalash Yatra reached outside a mosque in Khairabad on April 2.

In the videos, Muni is heard threatening to rape women of another community if a single Hindu woman is harassed. “I am telling you with love. If you harass a single Hindu girl, then I will openly rape your daughters after picking them up from your houses,” he is heard saying in one of the purported videos on April 2 in Sitapur’s Khairabad town. He is seen surrounded by a crowd, including policemen, while he says this sitting inside a car.

After the video went viral, he released a message, stating that the video was distorted and out of context. Later on April 8, Muni issued an apology: “To all the mothers and sisters, I would like to apologise. If my video, which is viral, has hurt them, please forgive me… I respect all women.”

The police had registered an FIR against him on April 8 after videos of him that had emerged on social media. Bajrang had issued an apology by evening.

Taking cognizance of the speech, the National Commission for Women sought his arrest.

The police have booked him under Sections 354-A (making sexual remarks), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 298 (uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the IPC.