After a group of Hindu right-wing activists stormed a restaurant in Bareilly and attacked students doing birthday celebration alleging love jihad, the local police on Sunday (December 28, 2025) registered a First Information Report (FIR) against accused amid a social media uproar. “The police registered FIR 532/25 under, 333/115 (2)/351/351 (3)/324 (4)/131/191 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Rishabh Thakur, Deepak Pathak and 20-25 others for assault in a restaurant located at Premnagar police station on December 27. “We are identifying the people involved in the assault,” said Ashutosh Shivam, Circle Officer City 1, Bareilly. The Section relates to house trespass with intent to cause hurt/assault, severe criminal intimidation, specifically threats to cause death, grievous hurt.
Videos of the incident went viral in which a group of activists were seen storming the cafe, and the police earlier acted against the victim, two Muslim youths and the cafe staff by issuing challan for disturbing peace on December 27. The issuing of challan led to an uproar. The issues relate to a first-year BSc. Nursing student who hosted her birthday party at the restaurant in the Prem Nagar area that was attended by nine friends — five women and four men. Of the four male friends, two were Muslims. The presence of Muslim youths with a Hindu woman led some members of the fringe group to reach the restaurant, where they raised slogans, allegedly attacked and accused the youths of “love jihad”. The police reached the spot and took the student and others to the police station for questioning.
“They barged into my birthday party and assaulted my friend. There were only two Muslims present, and most of the guests were Hindus. The attackers started accusing my friends of “Love Jihad”. They tried to harass and snatch my phone. We were helpless for sometime,” said the nursing student, who hosted the birthday party, in a viral video.
‘A blot on society’
The Congress accused the ruling BJP government of being responsible for such incidents, leading to fear in a civilised society and particularly among minority community. “Such incidents are a blot on civilised society and raise question marks on rule of law. Instead of taking strict action against anti-social elements who disrupted the celebration and attempted to communalise the environment, the police booked the victims. FIR against the accused is registered only after public outcry. It highlights the discriminatory attitude of the police which is emboldening the fringe right-wing organisations in Uttar Pradesh. Such occurrences are happening on a daily basis,” said Anil Yadav, a senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader.
Published – December 28, 2025 09:36 pm IST
