Bajrang Dal members accused of assaulting participants at Ahmedabad reading session

By A Representative 

The People's Union for Civil Liberties, Gujarat, and the Student and Youth Collective Ahmedabad have condemned a mob assault on a peaceful reading assembly in Vastrapur, calling it a premeditated, communally motivated hate crime. On the evening of August 27, 2026, about 40 to 50 students and citizens gathered at AUDA Garden for a silent reading session organized by the Student and Youth Collective and Gujarat Reads Anyway. 

The event was advertised as a peaceful protest against the intimidation of Anand Niketan School in Shilaj, where a campaign by Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists had forced the withdrawal of two books—The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai—from a student reading list. Journalists from BBC, Ahmedabad Mirror, Indian Express, and Gujarat Samachar were present to cover the gathering.

According to both organizations, the trouble began around 5:15 PM when a man identifying himself as a Bajrang Dal member questioned the readers, observed the books on display, and left. At approximately 6:00 PM, a mob of 45 to 50 men wearing saffron scarves and carrying sticks, baseball bats, and iron rods entered the garden. The attackers, chanting "Jai Shri Ram," identified themselves as Bajrang Dal and VHP members. 

The PUCL named Hiren Rabari and Jimit Rabari as key figures, stating that Jimit Rabari coordinated movement at the garden gate while Hiren Rabari directed the violence. The mob called the readers "terrorists" and "anti-nationals," and demanded in Hindi that people's trousers be pulled down to verify whether they were Muslim.

Participants attempted to de-escalate by showing the attackers books on Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar, and Nehru, but the mob refused to listen. Jay Thakkar suggested singing the national anthem, and the group stood and sang it in full, afterward chanting "Bharat Mata Ki Jai." The Student and Youth Collective said the attackers then accused Thakkar of disrespecting the anthem because his shoulder moved during the recitation, and accused another participant of failing to chant the slogan. 

The PUCL stated that the moment the anthem ended, Hiren Rabari shouted that the readers were defaming the country, after which the beating began. The mob tore up books, including one by Bhagat Singh, and launched an assault the organizers described as an attempted lynching.

The violence was sustained and specific. Thakkar was dragged from the garden and beaten with lathis, bats, fists, and kicks across his head, stomach, back, legs, and elbow. Sneh Bhavsar was struck on the head, left hand, legs, elbow, and back. Shashi Kumar was beaten on his forehead, eyes, jaw, and back while being forced into a police vehicle, during which a police officer's hand was also struck. Savan Zalariya was slapped hard enough to break his glasses, then beaten on his head, waist, and left ankle. 

Women were actively targeted: Swati Goswami had her arm grabbed and her hair pulled, which the PUCL described as an outrage to her modesty. Maitreyi Chhaya was repeatedly slapped on the back. Aadhya Chhatrola, who was filming the attack, was threatened with disappearance and pursued by a man attempting to seize her phone by force. She escaped only after screaming

Police arrived during the assault but, according to both accounts, failed to detain any attackers. The Student and Youth Collective said the victims were taken to Vastrapur police station while no attacker was brought in, and noted that three miscreants were later released on bail. The PUCL added that a police officer warned those being placed in a van that the mob could kill them. All six complainants were taken to Sola Civil Hospital for treatment. Weapons left at the scene were handed to police.

The PUCL raised grave concerns about the First Information Report registered at 12:40 AM on August 28 as FIR No. 11191020260278. The complaint described a mob of 45 to 50, but the FIR recorded only about eighteen. The two named accused, Hiren Rabari and Jimit Rabari, appeared only as vague individuals "present with the mob," stripping the document of their organizational affiliations and distinct roles. 

The communal character of the attack was entirely erased: the FIR omitted the Bajrang Dal and VHP involvement, the religious sloganeering, the "terrorist" accusations, the demand to forcibly check religion, and the national anthem episode. The PUCL said this was not a clerical error but a pattern of blunting accountability for politically favored groups.

Legally, the FIR relied on Section 115(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a bailable offense carrying a maximum one-year term, despite hospitalizations and attacks with baseball bats and iron rods. The PUCL argued that Section 118, a nonbailable offense carrying up to ten years or life imprisonment for grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, was the appropriate charge. The FIR also failed to include Section 74 for assaulting women with intent to outrage modesty, Section 117 for a group of five or more causing grievous hurt on religious grounds, Section 121 for assaulting a public servant, and Section 78 for stalking, despite the scouting of the group and the pursuit of Chhatrola.

Both groups demanded strict action. The Student and Youth Collective vowed to continue raising voices against the suppression of free thought and the right to congregate, noting it has video evidence to support its claims. 

The PUCL demanded that the FIR be amended to reflect the full account, that Rabari and Rabari be treated as main culprits, and that correct charges under Sections 118, 117, 121, 74, and 78 be applied. It also called for immediate preservation of CCTV footage from AUDA Garden, the nearby Kasa Vyoma building, and an Amul parlour; forensic examination of surrendered weapons; police protection for Chhatrola and other complainants; and a fixed, publicly stated timeframe for the investigation. It urged the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission and the Director General of Police to seek a status report.

The PUCL concluded that the right to sit in a public garden and read a book is sacrosanct. It noted that people were hospitalized, women were assaulted, and a young woman was threatened with disappearance simply for the books in their hands and the religion the mob suspected they held. A national anthem offered in peace, it said, was answered with more violence, not less.