States crack down on people involved in Friday clashes
RANCHI/KOLKATA/LUCKNOW: Several cities across the country remained on edge on Saturday as authorities cracked down on people involved in violent protests over comments made by former Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal against Prophet Mohammed.
Clashes were reported in Howrah and Murshidabad in West Bengal for the second consecutive day on Saturday, as reports emerged that two people who sustained gunshot wounds during police firing in Ranchi in Jharkhand succumbed to injuries.
A total of 255 people were arrested from several towns in Uttar Pradesh, about 100 in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad, 150 in Ranchi and 70 in Howrah. Arrests were also made in Uddham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand and Belagavi in Karnataka.
In UP, police officials said that the people involved in violence during the protests in Saharanpur and Prayagraj will be booked under the National Security Act.
“Cases have been lodged and those who indulged in violence will be booked under stringent National Security Act,” a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Among those arrested, 68 were held in Prayagraj and 50 in Hathras, additional director general of police (law and order) Prashant Kumar said in a statement on Saturday. He said 64 people were arrested in Saharanpur, 28 in Ambedkarnagar, 27 in Moradabad, 13 in Firozabad, three in Aligarh and two in Jalaun.
In a related development, the Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) demolished a multi-storey building owned by an aide of the main accused in last week’s violence over Sharma’s comments.
Similar action was taken in Saharanpur, where a ward councillor, Mansoor Badar said, “If someone has taken law in hands than he should be punished through judicial procedure.”