GHAZIABAD: Satyam Pandit, the national president of an outfit called Hindu Veer Sena, was purportedly seen in a viral video confronting and assaulting two students returning from the Jantar Mantar protest. He has been named in at least eight FIRs registered in Ghaziabad over the past three years.The cases range from assault and vandalism to alleged inflammatory speeches and attacks on meat vendors.Police records show the first FIR against Pandit was registered at Sihani Gate police station in June 2022, where he was accused of assaulting a shopkeeper and vandalising his outlet.In August 2024, he was arrested for allegedly delivering an inflammatory speech targeting Bangladeshis and the Rohingya community.In February this year, Ghaziabad police registered another FIR against him over allegations of assaulting vendors during a campaign to enforce the closure of meat shops on Tuesdays.Pandit has repeatedly courted controversy through social media posts.In one widely circulated video during the Kanwar Yatra, he urged the Uttar Pradesh government not to deploy Muslim police personnel on pilgrimage duty and demanded the removal of an ACP from the minority community posted in Ghaziabad.The video drew criticism, following which police began examining its contents.The latest controversy erupted after Pandit himself uploaded a video purportedly showing him confronting two students returning from the Jantar Mantar protest.The video shows Pandit asking the two youths their names, religion and the reason for attending the protest. He is purportedly seen abusing, threatening and slapping one of the youths. He also makes the youth apologise while facing the camera.At one point, one of the youths is seen trying to explain that he is a BSc student from Bareilly who had come to Delhi to visit his sister and decided to stop by the protest “to see what was happening”.He is also seen attempting to defend himself before being asked to lower his hand while speaking. Pandit is seen repeatedly commanding the youth to lower his hand from his face before sticking his hand out of his car window and slapping him.Pandit is further seen asking the students about their religion and questioning why, if they were Hindus, they had attended the protest. He claims anti-national slogans were being raised there and repeatedly asks them why they were supporting the gathering.The two youths appeared nervous during the interaction.Pandit himself shared the video on his social media account, after which several politicians and others demanded police action against him.Police said no complaint had been received from either of the two youths. “No case has been registered,” a senior police officer said.
