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UP: Pilgrims attack travellers after car touches Kanwar
A group of ‘kanwariyas’ vandalised a car and attacked the travellers in Uttar Pradesh alleging that the car has brushed against them.
A group of Kanwar pilgrims vandalised a car and attacked its occupants on the Haridwar-Delhi national highway, the police said on Monday. The pilgrims claimed their ‘kanwar’ (pitchers that carry sacred water from the River Ganga) had become impure after a car touched them.
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The police told news agency PTI that no devotee has come forward to confirm whether their kanwar touched the car.
A kanwar is a pot filled with water from river Ganga which is suspended on a decorated bamboo stick and is balanced on the shoulders of the "kanwariyas' as they take the holy water back home as an offering to Lord Shiva.
The yatra began on the first day of Sawan (Shravan) month on Monday. It will end on August 2.
Circle Officer Raju Kumar Sab told PTI that the damaged vehicle has been seized and efforts are being made to identify the drivers and passengers. The police are examining the CCTV footage of this area as well, officer Raju said.
SC stays Kanwar order
Last Friday, Muzaffarnagar police issued an order making it mandatory for restaurant owners to display their names in front of the eateries along the path of the Kanwar Yatra. This decision was later extended to the entire state by the UP government.
On Monday, the Supreme Court put an interim stay on the order.
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“I had said that the Supreme Court should take cognizance of this matter and stop such action. Just like a diya flutters before being blown out, the communal politics that has ended, its diya is now fluttering and so the hearing is being held. The government has taken many such steps because when communal politics ends, these people will do like this...," Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav told reporters on Monday, reacting to the development.
