Overview

• Kanpur Police registered cases on September 9 against 24 people, citing the introduction of a new custom and disturbance of communal harmony, and said some banners were removed for lack of permission and traffic obstruction.
• The controversy has spread beyond Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand, Telangana and Maharashtra, with local advisories, demonstrations and fresh displays reported in multiple cities.
• Jammu and Kashmir leaders Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti joined AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi in condemning the FIRs, calling the phrase a lawful expression of faith and urging legal redress.
• In Kashipur, Uttarakhand, one protest turned violent according to police, leading to seven arrests, ten detentions and inquiries into alleged organisers, alongside administrative action against purported encroachments.
• In Mumbai, Muslim clerics filed a memorandum calling the Kanpur cases wrong, as Hindu groups announced counter‑gatherings using ‘I Love Mahadev’ banners.