More than 30 kanwariyas injured in alleged attack by motorcycle-borne assailants

A group of 30 kanwariya pilgrims were attacked by dozens of villagers in Farrukhabad, about 150 km from Kanpur, late on Friday, police said on Saturday.

The attack was a retaliation after members of the group beat up three people during an altercation on the road earlier.

Additional SP, Farrukhabad, Tribhuvan Singh said an FIR was registered with the Mau Darwaza police and they were making efforts to identify the people behind the attack. The police have taken several people into custody for questioning, he said.

One of the injured, Sheeshpal, said about 40-50 people came on motorcycles and attacked them with iron rods, ‘lathis’ and sharp-edged weapons near Hathiyapur on Delhi road. The attackers also fired at them, he told the Farrukhabad police.

Fourteen injured kanwariyas were taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Farrukhabad and four of them were critical.

Kanwariyas are pilgrims who take part in the ‘Kanwad Yatra’ to towns of significance for Hindus such as Haridwar to fetch water from the Ganga. Incidents of wanton violence and random road blockades by several angry kanwariyas were reported from Uttar Pradesh and parts of Delhi-NCR earlier this week -- including the destruction of a car in Delhi’s Moti Nagar that led to widespread outrage.