Internet services suspended after tension grips Bihar’s Nawada
Personnel of Sashastra Seema Bal and anti-riot Rapid Action Force have been deployed in the trouble-torn Akbarpur and Warisaliganj police station areas of Nawada district.
The state government on Thursday suspended internet services in Nawada to prevent spread of any inflammatory message on social media after communal tension gripped some areas in the south Bihar district.
Tension gripped Akbarpur police station area of Nawada district, 116 km south of Patna, when an idol of Goddess Durga was damaged in stone pelting by a group of anti-social elements on Wednesday night.
Police said the incident took place around 9pm when some people were taking the idol to a pandal at Baliya village. As soon as they reached near the New York building at Akbarpur, a group of people pelted stones at them, objecting to the loud music being played on the public address system fitted to the cart carrying the idol, the police said.
In the ensuing clash, the idol of Goddess Durga was damaged, the police said.
On getting information, Nawada district magistrate Kaushal Kumar and superintendent of police Bikas Burman reached the spot with reinforcement and pacified the quarrelling mob.
The idol had since been repaired and kept at the Akbarpur block office, the police said, adding that the officials were trying to send the idol to Baliya, but the villagers there had refused to worship “a desecrated idol”.
In another incident, unidentified persons set on fire a Tazia (a replica of the tomb of Husain, the martyred son of Prophet Muhammad, which is carried in processions during Muharram) in Warsaliganj police station area.
Police have lodged separate cases for provoking communal violence and hurting religious sentiments under relevant sections of the Indian penal code.
Patna central range deputy inspector general (DIG) Rajesh Kumar is camping at Nawada since Wednesday night, while personnel of Sashastra Seema Bal and anti-riot Rapid Action Force have been deployed in the trouble-torn Akbarpur and Warisaliganj police station areas of the district.
Kumar, who also holds the additional charge of Magadh range where Nawada is, said police had been directed to foil any attempt to vitiate the atmosphere again. He said the situation was under control.
A senior official of state home department in Patna said, “We have been directed to strictly follow the 2008 guideline of the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) that asks district administrations to prepare contingency plans so that riots can be pre-empted or prevented.
With the immersion of idols coinciding with Muharram, police have been put on alert in Patna, Bhojpur, Munger, Gaya, Darbhanga, Nalanda, Bhagalpur and Siwan to prevent any untoward situation..