|

July 04, 2014

UP temple row: Protesters clash with cops, many top officials hurt

Hindustan Times

UP temple row: Protesters clash with cops, many top officials hurt
S Raju, Hindustan Times Meerut, July 04, 2014
First Published: 19:01 IST(4/7/2014) | Last Updated: 22:25 IST(4/7/2014)

The spectre of communal violence loomed in Kanth town of Moradabad district on Friday after police put down with force a proposed mahapanchayat by Hindu groups in protest against removal of temple loudspeaker last week.
BJP mahapanchayat supporters during a clash at Kanth Railway Station in Moradabad district. (PTI photo)

Moradabad district magistrate Chandrakant was referred to Delhi for treatment after he sustained head injury in the stone pelting by protesters. Senior superintendent of police Dharamveer, an inspector and three sub-inspectors were also wounded after being hit by stones.

Police resorted to baton charge and fired several rounds of ammunition in air to disperse the angry mob from the tracks of Kanth railway station, where they blocked rail traffic for more than an hour.

Fearing a communal flare-up, the police also arrested BJP MPs Nepal Singh, Kanwar Singh Tanwar, Satpal Singh and MLA Sangeet Som and several party officials en route to Kanth, where they were planning to attend the proposed mahapanchayat. Reportedly, BJP leaders including Muzaffarnagar riots accused Sangeet Som has been released from custody.

Som was one of the legislators booked---and later released---for inciting the last year's bloody religious clashes in Muzaffarnagar that killed about 60 people, most of them Muslims, and displaced about 50,000 people. After the riots, the western UP got divided on communal lines that, according to pollsters, helped the BJP consolidate the Hindu vote in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls.

A violent protest had erupted after the removal of the loudspeaker last week. At least 23 protesters had been booked on charges of rioting and 34 others named in the FIR along with 500 unidentified persons.

District magistrate Chandrakant, injured in a scuffle between police forces and supporters of Kanth Mahapanchayat, is taken to a hospital in Moradabad. (PTI photo)

Traders kept their shops shut for over a week in protest demanding reinstallation of loudspeaker, withdrawal of cases against protesters and action against policemen who thrashed people.

On Thursday, the two communities failed to broker a compromise. One group represented by BJP MP from Moradabad Sarvesh Kumar Singh and the party's president for the district Satyapal Saini did not agree to the other side's suggestion that the loudspeaker be restored after Eid. Hindus had offered the loudspeaker can be turned off at the time of namaz.

Peace Party MLA from Kanth Aneesur Rahman, who was representing the other group, reportedly said the BJP MP initially agreed to Muslims' suggestion that the loudspeaker can be re-installed after August 3, when Ramzan is over. According to Rahman, the MP had also agreed to the suggestion that construction of a mosque, which had been stopped after a complaint by Hindus, will also be resumed after August 3. But, Rahman said, the MP later went to Kanth after his associates disagreed with the proposals.

Angry traders and workers of Hindu Jagran Manch had burnt Sarvesh's effigy and blamed him for "succumbing to the rival camp's pressure".