Incidents of communal violence leave 14 injured in state

: Violence erupted in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district late on Saturday night following a dispute between two communities over playing music during Navratri celebrations, the police said.

After the incident, a few miscreants fired at another procession, which injured 12 people (three sustained bullet injuries).

“The dispute began over playing music during Navratri celebrations. The police, however, calmed everyone down. A little while later, a few miscreants opened fire at a similar procession,” said Pratapgarh’s additional superintendent of police Ratan Lal Bhargava.

“All the three injured are now out of danger and section 144 has been imposed along with an internet ban till 11 pm on Monday and a decision to continue or revoke the ban will be taken after assessing the situation. At present, the environment is peaceful,” said Bhargava.

He added that the situation turned tense again on Sunday evening during a bandh called by certain religious groups.

“There was stone pelting following which the police had to intervene and brought the situation under control. Since then no untoward incident has taken place,” said the police officer.

The police said that a search has been initiated for the miscreants and cases have been lodged against them.

In a separate incident, at least two people were injured in Bassi area of Chittorgarh district on Sunday during a Muharram procession.

“As the Muharram procession began, people from another community started chanting slogans, which irked those who were part of the procession. They assaulted a few men who were sloganeering,” said a police official on the condition of anonymity.

The police said that heavy force had to be deployed in the area after the incident to check further instances of communal violence and a few people have been detained for creating a ruckus.

Another incident took place at Bhilwara district on Sunday when two men, who were inebriated, allegedly set a mat on fire inside a mosque in Mandal area.

“The two men, identified as Jai Vijay Singh and Dinesh Singh, entered the mosque on Sunday afternoon and told the maulavi that they wanted to go inside. When the latter refused, they allegedly threatened him,” said Dinesh Kumawat, station house officer, Mandal police station.

He added that following this the maulavi ran away and raised an alarm.

JAIPUR VIOLENCE ERUPTED IN PRATAPGARH AFTER A DISPUTE BETWEEN TWO COMMUNITIES OVER PLAYING MUSIC DURING NAVRATRI CELEBRATIONS