Tea vendor scalds teen with hot tea, sparks communal tension in Kanpur

The incident led to heightened communal tension in the area. Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists and Bajrang Dal volunteers quickly arrived at the scene, causing disruption and demanding severe action against the perpetrator.

Kanpur: A fruit vendor has been arrested for allegedly pouring hot tea on a teenager, dressed as a member of Hanuman’s Vanar Sena for a Shobha Yatra in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur leading to communal tension in the area.

The incident happened in Maitha Bazar area of Kanpur Dehat on Tuesday.

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As per reports, the teenager had allegedly picked up a banana from the vendor’s cart.

Communal tension prevailed in the area following the incident and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists and Bajrang Dal volunteers reached the spot and created a ruckus, demanding strict action against the culprit.

The fruit vendor Shanu Ahmad, 27, was arrested later.

The complainant, Surendra Kumar, 18, suffered burns and was rushed to hospital by others who were part of the Shobha yatra.

“The accused has been arrested and booked under IPC’s sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (punishment for insulting someone intentionally to provoke him/her) and 506 (criminal intimidation),” said Shivli police inspector Shiv Narain Singh.

“However, the accused said that he did not throw the tea on him with any wrong intention, but it instead fell on the teenager during a scuffle,” the inspector added.

He said that the situation has been restored to normal after heavy deployment of police force in the area.

Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Pandey appealed to the people not to spread any rumour regarding this incident.