Pilibhit violence: FIR against 26, ban orders
BAREILLY: A day after four people, including a cop , were injured in clashes between police and villagers in Gaubhoj village in Sangadi area of Pilibhit, the district administration on Thursday imposed prohibitory orders and started a crackdown to arrest those involved in the incident.
The villagers were protesting against razing of a temple, which according to the municipality, was built on encroached land.
Senior administrative and police officials inspected the area on Thursday and asked the villagers to maintain law and order.
SP, Pilibhit, Devranjan Verma said, “The situation is peaceful and we have deployed several teams in the area to ensure law and order.” He said the police had registered FIR against 26 people under various sections of IPC and started investigation.
“Prima facie the incident appears to be planned and we are identifying those involved, using pictures and video of the incident,” said the SP. Apart from those named, police have identified over 60 others and are trying to trace them.
Police sources said villagers of Gaubhoj near Puranpur police post blocked the road and staged protest against the district administration for demolition of a temple on Tuesday. The temple was built by encroaching on public land. The group held a similar protest on Wednesday and was called for a meeting with the district administration to resolve the issue but the meeting apparently failed. At around 7 PM, the villagers blocked traffic on PilibhitPuranpur Road.
A police team from the nearby police station responded first but had to fall back when villagers started pelting the cops with stones. The enraged protesters also set fire to a police motorcycle and two other motor bikes.
To control the crowd, police force from five police stations along with two battalions of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) was called in. It took the police personnel over four hours to bring the situation under control. Police have already arrested six of the accused and are on the lookout for others.
The district administration has refused to hold a meeting with the locals regarding the temple till the situation is brought under control.