A reading session of Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai’s memoir ‘I Am Malala’ took a violent turn in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad after a group of people, allegedly from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, attacked the participants, police said on Friday.
They were doing a silent book-reading protest against a school dropping ‘I am Malala’ and ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl’ from its reading list following opposition from parents and right-wing activists. “An FIR has been registered, and two of the accused were known to the victims. Apart from them, six individuals have been identified, and three have already been arrested,” she was quoted as saying. A few weeks ago, a private school in Ahmedabad was forced to drop books by Yousafzai and Holocaust survivor Anne Frank from its mandatory reading list after protests from right-wing groups.
The incident took place when a group of around 70 people had reportedly gathered at the public garden for the reading on Thursday.
Vastrapur police station Inspector GM Chaudhary said that when the readers were leaving the garden after the session, around 18 to 20 people, claiming to be from the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), arrived at the site and angrily demanded to know why they had read Yousufzai’s memoir, “I am Malala”. Three people have been arrested in connection with the attack that occurred at Vastrapur Garden on Thursday evening, police said, news agency PTI reported.
