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Clashes erupt during processions in MP
Bhopal/ Jabalpur: There was tension in three cities of Madhya Pradesh — Dhar, Jabalpur and Barwani — on Tuesday after clashes broke out during the Eid-i-Milad un-Nabi celebrations, police said
Bhopal/ Jabalpur:
There was tension in three cities of Madhya Pradesh — Dhar, Jabalpur and Barwani — on Tuesday after clashes broke out during the Eid-i-Milad un-Nabi celebrations, police said.
Eid-i-Milad un-Nabi or Mawlid is celebrated as the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. Processions are taken out on the occasion. In Dhar, those part of a procession tried to alter the route at Utawad Darwaja area by removing police barricading. Police alleged that some miscreants threw stones at them following which they carried out a lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
A video of the incident was widely circulated on social media in which police personnel were allegedly seen pulling at the beard of a Muslim man.
Dhar superintendent of police Aditya Pratap Singh said, “A case has been registered under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), and 353 (use of criminal force to deter public servant from discharging of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code against unidentified people and organisers. On Sunday evening, the organisers and the district administration held a meeting to finalise the route, but some tried to change it.”
The procession carried on peacefully later.
Elsewhere in Jabalpur, some people were taking out a procession in the Gohalpur area, and when police tried to stop them, they threw firecrackers at police personnel, police said. Later, police used teargas and a baton charge to break up the mob.
Jabalpur superintendent of police Siddharth Bahuguna said, “As many as 30 teargas shells were fired to control the mob. In the attack, six police personnel have been injured. Two separate FIRs are being registered for rioting with a deadly weapon, assaulting a public servant to deter him from discharging his duty and violating the orders duly promulgated by a public servant.”
Six people have been detained, police said. Jabalpur collector Karamveer Sharma said, “Section 144 has been imposed in the city. Now, the situation is under control.”
In the third incident in Barwani, members of two communities clashed over the playing of some objectionable songs during a procession in the Raipur area of the town. They pelted stones at one another, but the police controlled them.
Barwani superintendent of police Deepak Kumar Shukla said, “Some members of the Muslim community were playing objectionable songs. Locals registered their protest over it. Police asked them to stop, but they didn’t listen. Later, some members of the Hindu community pelted stones at the procession. Muslim community members also retaliated.”
Police detained over 10 people, and six people from both communities were injured. They are being treated, and an FIR will be registered after that, Shukla added.
Any eyewitness versions? Police are clearly blaming Muslims here.
(with inputs from Monika Pandey from Jabalpur)
