The police on Monday, 18 April, booked 13 people and arrested 11 in connection with an alleged stone-pelting incident that took place in Uttarakhand's Haridwar on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti on Saturday.
"11 people have been arrested. Sufficient force is present in the village. Meetings are being held with the people. The situation is peaceful," news agency ANI reported Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Yogendra Singh Rawat as saying.
The SSP also said that the police was deployed on Saturday to bring the situation under control after some elements "jeopardised communal harmony" in the Danda Jalalpur village in Haridwar's Bhagwanpur area.
The stone-pelting incident allegedly occurred while a procession was crossing a Muslim-dominated stretch of the village on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, Garhwal (Range) DIG Karan Singh Nagnyal said, according to The Indian Express. Several people were injured in the violence that ensued.
60 Personnel Deployed: Police
"Stones were pelted by unknown persons and the search operations have begun to arrest the miscreants. Yes, injuries have been reported but no police personnel was injured in the incident. Over 60 police personnel have been deployed in the area," the SSP had said on Sunday.
The accused were charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 195 A (threatening any person to give false evidence), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), as per The Indian Express.
'Break Homes of Muslims Within 2 Days': Hindu Raksha Vahini Issues Threat
Meanwhile, the Hindu Raksha Vahini (HRV) issued a threat on Sunday, saying that if homes of Muslims in the village are not destroyed within two days, they will conduct a 'dharma sansad.'
"If an investigation is not conducted within two days, and if the homes of Muslims in Haridwar's Danda Jalalpur village are not demolished, we will conduct a dharma sansad in the region. We will no longer remain silent," said a leader of the HRV.
Meanwhile, police have denied that they went to the village with bulldozers and asked the accused to surrender, claiming that they had been brought for a different purpose, according to The Indian Express. Claims on social media said that bulldozers had been lined up and police were threatening the accused.
The HRV also said that the city of Haridwar was slowly coming within the ambit of "Islamic jihad."
The HRV leader added that a 'Yogi (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath) model' of governance was required in Uttarakhand to achieve swift justice, adding that the current administration was not interested in conducting a thorough investigation.
Several incidents of communal clashes were reported in the country on the occasions of Hanuman Jayanti on 16 April and Ram Navami on 10 April.
A plea has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the clashes.
(With inputs from ANI and The Indian Express.)
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