Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — A flag rally of the Hindu ritual of idol immersion during Durga Puja turned violent in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district on Monday night. Five persons were arrested as the processionists looted and vandalised Muslim shops. The police also seized a desi pistol and some bullets two days after the rioting at Basbita Bazar in the area of Majorganj police station.
The arrested have been identified as Adarsh Kumar, Shivam Paswan, Nikhil Kumar, Subhash Kumar and Ujjawal Kumar after an FIR was registered at the Majorganj police station under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections 191 (2), 191(3), 190, 126(2), 115(2), 132, 74, 333, 305, 223, 326(g), 62, 61(2), 24(4), 8(5), 281, 299, 308(4), 352, 351(2), 8(3), 11(3) & (4) and some sections of the arms act.
In a statement, the Sitamarhi police said “They (the processionists) misbehaved with members of the Muslim community and shouted provocative slogans in an attempt to create communal tension. And when the police officer SI Veena Kumari tried to stop the accused, she was abused and manhandled. Some rallyists barged into the local shops and vandalised and looted them”.
The police claim that six persons indulged in criminal activities by violating the conditions on which the rally was allowed to proceed. They were armed with sharp weapons and raised slogans to cause a religious frenzy, said the police.
Following the incident, the police raided the house of accused Ujjawal Kumar and confiscated a country-made pistol along with some cartridges. Two accused Nipendra Kumar and Shampu Mishra are absconding and the police are conducting raids to arrest them.
In a separate incident, two persons were killed while ten others sustained injuries after two groups clashed during idol immersion at Dhenga village in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district on Monday night.
However, the police said that the clash broke out between the two groups as a result of an old feud.
According to Sitamarhi SP Manoj Tiwari, “The incident took place at Dhenga village when people of two groups engaged in a fight over an old dispute. Both the men went to the spot to settle the matter but received grievous injuries and died in the hospital.”
According to a police official, the scuffle between two ‘tolas’ in Dheng village initially broke out on Navami (Saturday), over playing of music. The local authorities, villagers and the police, however, controlled the situation. The matter again escalated on Sunday when some social elements started fighting after idol immersion
