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Security beefed up across UP for Friday prayers
UP police additional director general (ADG), Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said officials in districts had been asked to ensure no law-and-order problem erupted during Friday prayers. He said the district police chiefs had been asked to make necessary deployment of police force and other arrangements.
Lucknow Ahead of Friday prayers, the state police have made fool proof security arrangements to avert any law-and-order problem and maintain peace in all districts.
Senior police officers have been told to make all necessary arrangements like deployment of armed police force as well as civil police personnel, vigil in sensitive localities, aerial vigil through drones when prayers are offered at different mosques till people get dispersed, deployment of intelligence sleuths in civvies, putting up CCTV cameras at strategic locations and round the clock watch on people who have been involved in causing trouble in the past, as well as tracking movement of several religious leaders.
“We have made all necessary arrangements and officials of different districts have been told to ensure fool proof security arrangements to curb protest or violence after Friday prayers,” said a senior police official privy to the developments. He said major deployment had been done in minority-dominated areas. Besides, clerics and religious had been roped in to assist in maintaining peace and communal harmony, he added.
In Prayagraj, where violence and arson erupted post Friday prayers in Atala area on June 10, a three-tier security arrangement is in place and count of security personnel hiked 12-fold.
The administration is also holding dialogues with locals and intellectuals and meetings with religious heads and peace committees, as per officials.
The entire Atala locality and surrounding areas within 3 km radius have been turned into a fortress with police, PAC and RAF personnel manning not just the main roads but also the narrow by-lanes. On the eve of the Friday prayers, heavy patrolling of the area was undertaken, apart from vigil using drones.
The district administration has also appealed to the managers of all the mosques to deploy volunteers before the Friday prayers. Managers of many mosques have already appointed volunteers and submitted their list to the district administration. These volunteers will keep an eye on all the visitors, so that no trouble is created in the mosques.
A state home department press release stated that senior home and police officials carried out video conferencing with district police officials on the law-and-order situation. It said that police and paramilitary forces flag marched in sensitive localities to instil security in the common man and give a warning to trouble makers.
Officials have been asked to conduct video recording so that people causing trouble may easily be identified. The field officers have been issued stern warning over any lapses in preparations for Friday prayers.
UP police additional director general (ADG), Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said officials in districts had been asked to ensure no law-and-order problem erupted during Friday prayers. He said the district police chiefs had been asked to make necessary deployment of police force and other arrangements. He said CCTV cameras had been set up at strategic locations in sensitive districts to keep a watch on trouble makers.
The sensitive districts include Prayagraj, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Meerut, Firozabad, Sambhal, Shamli, Kanpur, Lucknow, Hathras, Aligarh, Bareilly, Rampur, Badaun, Jalaun, Ambedkarnagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Agra, Mau, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Ayodhya, Bahraich and Gonda.
The state police move is a sequel to violence reported on two consecutive Fridays after prayers on June 3 and June 10 in protest against insulting remark for Prophet Mohammed by suspended BJP national spokesman Nupur Sharma during an electronic channel debate. The violence broke out in Kanpur after Friday prayers on June 3 and in Prayagraj, Saharanpur, Firozabad, Moradabad, Hathras, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ambedkarnagar, Aligarh and Jalaun on June 10.
In the past one week, as many as 357 people have been arrested and 13 FIRs lodged in nine districts in this connection.
Meanwhile, as part of their nationwide protests, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and its youth wing Bajrang Dal on Thursday staged a demonstration in Prayagraj against the recent violence in parts of the country over the controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad by two now-removed BJP functionaries.
The demonstrators demanded strict action against those who “instigated” people that led to violent protests at several places, including Prayagraj, after Friday prayers on June 10.
