Uproar over a viral video on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) over Sushil Prajapati, a former Ghaziabad unit chief of lesser-known Hindu Yuva Vahini, receiving a heroic welcome from supporters after being released on bail following eight months in jail in a rape case.

In the videos, the accused is seen being greeted with flower garlands and carried on the shoulders of supporters during a celebratory procession. Sushil Prajapati, the former office bearer of Hindu Yuva Vahini, was accused of raping an LLB student in Ghaziabad, got bail after eight months. The video is shot on May 17, when the accused was released from Dasna jail. 

The Samajwadi Party (SP) president, Akhilesh Yadav, said nothing could be more condemnable than such videos of welcoming the accused.

“Nothing could be more condemnable than the way a senior office bearer, accused of rape, was welcomed with flower showers and garlands after he was granted bail, hailing from a group which the Chief Minister of the state had recently praised profusely. It seems that the honourable is taking out his staunch supporters to contest the next election independently. Now tomorrow, this rape accused, released on bail, will be seen raising slogans in support of ‘women's reservation’. This is the basic character of the ‘unrighteous BJP’ and its affiliated organizations, Vahini and Parishad,” wrote Mr. Yadav, on X, sharing the video. 

The Congress alleged that such instances are part of a grand agenda of extremist forces to make Hindu society violent.

“The heroic welcome of an accused is not only shameful for a civilized society, but it’s a dangerous trend having far-reaching consequences. It is a broader plan of extremist Hindutva elements to convert Hindu society into a violent mob. We are seeing for the first time in independent India that such anti-social elements are celebrating with impunity, which hints at support from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government,” said Shahnawaz Alam, National Secretary, Congress.