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20 police personnel deployed near Mihir Bhoj statute in Gwalior after clash
The controversy over the plaque for King Mihir Bhoj’s statute in Gwalior is the second row to have erupted between two groups in recent weeks. Police said they are holding meetings with panchayats to hold peace in the area
BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh police on Monday provided security cover to the statue of 9th century Samrat Mihir Bhoj in Gwalior after some people tried to unveil the plague of the statue despite a high court stay, leading to a clash between two groups, police said.
The Gwalior police also registered a case against 150 people for rioting, assaulting and using criminal force to deter public servants from discharging their duty and creating ruckus as a group tried to unveil the plaque, while another one opposed it.
After the tension simmered between members of the Rajput and Gurjar communities for writing Gurjar on the plaques of Samrat Mihir Bhoj statue installed in Gwalior and Morena, a petition was filed at MP High Court, Gwalior bench for clarity on the historical facts.
“The court formed a committee including a representative of both the communities, Inspector General of Police, Gwalior commissioner of police and experts on the subject. The court also ordered that the plaque be covered till the final judgement,” said, MPS Raghuvanshi, a lawyer representing the government in the case.
Gwalior, superintendent of police, Amit Sanghi said, “More than 150 people of a community tried to unveil the plaque and created ruckus in front of the statute in Kampoo area on Saturday night. We have decided to enhance the security cover to avoid any untoward incident.”
As many as 20 police personnel have been deployed around the statue with riot control vehicles. Police personnel will guard the statue 24x7, the Gwalior SP said, adding restrictions under section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure has been imposed in Morena and Gwalior, and people told not to put out any provocative posts on social media.
In Bhind, police organized meetings to inform people about the court’s interim decision to avoid any clash.
Bhind superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Singh said, “We are holding panchayats to avoid any tension as happened in April 2017 which led to seven deaths in a clash between the two communities. In the panchayats, the villagers are being informed about the consequences of the clash and also about the controversy as many don’t know the actual reason behind the tension but they are attacking each other over social media.”
A controversy also erupted 300 km away in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri over a statue of the ninth-century ruler over the past week after some members of the Gurjar community complained that an earlier version of the statue’s plaque acknowledged that he was a Gurjar king and were offended that this reference was removed.
The organisers explained that they removed the name of the caste from the plaque installed below the statue after they realised that including either of the castes, Gurjar or Rajput, would lead to protests.
