The Madhya Pradesh Police on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) registered a case against various people, a day after videos showed a man being assaulted on allegations of ‘love jihad’ after being dragged out of a hotel in Bhopal, officials said.
According to the police, a case was lodged at the Govindpura police station, based on various complaints received from individuals and community leaders, against unidentified persons for beating up Arif Khan (27) a resident of city’s Jahangirabad area.
Bhopal Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime, Monika Shukla told The Hindu that the police have launched an investigation into the case and that the accused were yet to be identified.
On May 11, multiple videos went viral showing a group of Bajrang Dal activists barging into a private hotel’s room in Bhopal’s Gautam Nagar area, thrashing him and dragging him out. One video showed the mob, many of them donning saffron scarfs and chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, putting cow dung on his face and slapping him in front of the police even as personnel try to intervene, leading to arguments between the cops and Bajrang Dal workers.
The man was later handed over to the police.
The right-wing activists had alleged that the man was caught with a Hindu woman and was “involved in an act of love jihad’, a term coined by the Hindu outfits accusing Muslim men of “luring” Hindu women into relationships with them.
Govindpura station in-charge Awadhesh Singh Tomar said that the incident took place on May 10 and that a case has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class).
Mr. Tomar said that the police are analysing the viral footage to identify the accused.
“We had taken a note of the matter yesterday [May 11, 2026] itself but the girl’s family and the man decided not to file any complaint. Now, we have received some complaints so an FIR has been filed,” he said, adding that the man and the woman have been given time to think in case they want to lodge a complaint.
He said that Mr. Khan has at least five pending cases against him, including those of fraud and theft.
Another police officer, who requested anonymity, said that while official statements of the woman were not recorded, she admitted to have been in a relationship with the man and had gone to the hotel consensually.
Meanwhile, Deepak Bundele, a Bhopal based lawyer and social activist, has written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking its intervention into the matter and directions for the authorities to prevent incidents of moral policing in future.
Terming the incident a violation of fundamental and human rights, Mr. Bundele wrote, “Notices should be issued to the Director General of Police (DGP), Madhya Pradesh, and the District Magistrate (DM), Bhopal, seeking a report on an impartial investigation. Based on video evidence, the accused persons should be identified, and punitive action against them must be ensured.”
Published – May 13, 2026 07:32 am IST
