VHP, Bajrang Dal attack book protesters in Ahmedabad for reading ‘I am Malala’

A group of people were doing a silent reading protest against a school's move to remove ‘I am Malala’ and ‘Diary of a Young Girl’ from its reading list.

A reading session of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai's memoir 'I Am Malala' took a violent turn in Gujarat's Ahmedabad after a group of people, allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, attacked the participants, police said on Friday.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the attack that occurred at Vastrapur Garden on Thursday evening, police said, news agency PTI reported.

The incident took place when a group of around 70 people had reportedly gathered at the public garden for the reading on Thursday. They were doing a silent book-reading protest against a school dropping ‘I am Malala’ and ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl’ from its reading list following opposition from parents and right-wing activists.

Which books were the protesters reading

The protestors read books including “Why I Am An Atheist”, “1984", “Bhima Koregaon: Our War Cry”, There’s Gunpowder in the Air” and The Meat of the Matter: How Politics of Food Shapes Our Health", The Times of India reported.

However, they were allegedly confronted by an armed group of 18 to 20 individuals, claiming to be from the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), over their choice of book.

Vastrapur police station Inspector GM Chaudhary said that when the readers were leaving the garden after the session, around 18 to 20 people, claiming to be from the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), arrived at the site and angrily demanded to know why they had read Yousufzai's memoir, "I am Malala".

The altercation escalated, leading to a scuffle in which two people were injured. The attackers were armed with sticks, the official was quoted as saying.

"An FIR has been registered, and two of the accused were known to the victims. Apart from them, six individuals have been identified, and three have already been arrested," she was quoted as saying.

The attackers claimed to be affiliated with the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, she added.

An FIR was registered under sections about rioting, unlawful assembly and causing physical pain under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the official said.

A few weeks ago, a private school in Ahmedabad was forced to drop books by Yousafzai and Holocaust survivor Anne Frank from its mandatory reading list after protests from right-wing groups.

‘I am Malala’ is the autobiography of Pakistan education activist Malala Yousafzai who survived a fatal shooting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2014 when she was just 17 for her advocacy of girls' education after it was banned by the Pakistani Taliban.

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