Watch: UP Men Posing Bandits And Armed With Dummy Weapons Taking Donations By Stopping Commuters
A video went viral on social media recently in which men, armed with dummy weapons stop commuters and take donations in daylight. The incident is reportedly from Uttar Pradesh, where a group of men wearing black dress and mask, armed with crackers and dummy weapons stop vehicles and demands donations. It’s satirical as the gangsters hails ‘Jai Mahadev’ and approaches the vehicles on the road for robbery.
They pose as bandits and it is said to be an age-old tradition of banditry. Banditry is a form of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involved with threat or usage of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as bandits and they commits crimes like robbery, murder, extortion etc, either as an individual or as a group.
In what is believed to be an age old tradition in UP”s Jhansi, men posing as bandits, armed with dummy weapons and crackers stop commuters and take donations. pic.twitter.com/bmgyDmJrnV
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) November 9, 2023
It is an old form of gangsterism and thievery. Primarily, the bandits are engaged with crimes in remote, lawless, or out-of-the way places. The leaders of the group are often skilled in fighting and riding and possess material and social capital as well.
In the recent viral video, a group comprising at least ten men stops a white Maruti Omni of Uttar Pradesh registration with fake weapons. The men, all wearing black pants and shirts also has black masks to cover their faces. The road, where both the sides are seems vacant of human occupation has only some bushes and trees. The area is obviously outskirts of some UP village area and is said by most as part of the historic Jhansi city.
There are local people who pass by the road and none are cared of these gangsters. No one is trying to stop the bandits as well. Several X (formerly Twitter) users have come up criticizing the act. One user said “is there anything not left to see in UP?”, while another said “out of necessity… jobless people… what else they do”. People also crticised the law and order situation of the state. A woman is also seen in the video with a baby in her hand, passing nearby the robbers. A user spotted it said “that’s how it is [the practice] normalized in UP”.
