Cop asks Bhopal gym to bar Muslims, removed from field duty

A police sub-inspector has been removed from field duty after he allegedly asked a gym owner not to allow entry to Muslims at the facility in Bhopal, officials said on Tuesday.

Additional deputy commissioner of police Mahavir Singh confirmed the probe and Sharma’s removal from field duty. “Action will be taken based on the inquiry’s findings,” he was quoted by the New Indian Express as saying.

The action against sub-inspector Dinesh Sharma was taken after a video surfaced on social media showing him purportedly making the controversial comments. "No Muslim will come here to train or take training. I am telling you this clearly," the cop was seen instructing the gym owner in the clip.

According to the police, some Bajrang Dal members had visited the gym, located in the Ayodhya Nagar area of Bhopal, and raised questions over the presence of Muslim trainers at the facility.

After this, the police were called to defuse the tension there, which was when Sharma allegedly made the comments, an official said.

After a purported video of his comments went viral on social media, the police started an investigation into the matter. Following the investigation, Sharma was on Monday attached to the police lines in Bhopal, an official said.

The police have made it very clear that no such act will be allowed which creates tension between communities, the official added.

Following the incident, Bhopal BJP MP Alok Sharma had said a list of such gyms in which Muslims impart training was being prepared. “There are a lot of gyms in Bhopal, we are enlisting, in which the trainers are Muslims. Even women should be gym trainers... We will give this list to the police in the coming times... Nobody will be permitted for love jihad now.” 

The reference to 'love jihad' here presumably reflects the MP's fears about 'Muslim trainers' entrapping Hindu women gym members. But his remarks are yet to be clarified.

With agency inputs