Jaitaran still tense a day after communal violence, 10 detained
SIMMERING TENSION Curfew imposed, no fresh violence reported; senior officials camping in town JAITARAN (PALI)
: The situation remained tense and curfew continued in Jaitaran town of Pali on Sunday, a day after stone pelting at a religious procession led to violence and arson. No fresh incident of communal violence was reported as people stayed indoors and shops remained shut.
Police have detained more than 10 people while internet services have been suspended in Jaitaran and Pali, Nimaz and Sojat areas to prevent the spread of rumours. The Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) and Special Task Force (STF) remained deployed in the town, about 240 km from Jaipur.
“We have detained more than 10 people and are investigating the incident and reasons that led to the violence. We are also counselling the leaders of both the communities,” superintendent of police (SP) Deepak Bhargava said.
“Prohibitory order under section 144 of the CrPC has been imposed in the area until April 6. The situation is completely under control,” district collector Sudhir Kumar Sharma said.
Violence erupted around 4.30 pm on Saturday when a Hanuman Jayanti procession, with 1,500 people accompanied by a DJ, was passing through a market area, dominated by the minority community. Sources, who did not want to be named, said provocative slogans were raised and the people belonging to the minority the community objected to it. This led to stone pelting on the procession from top of buildings and people in the procession retaliated.
A large number of people from both the communities came out on the streets and some of them were armed with sharp-edged weapons. The local police were outnumbered and by the time reinforcements arrived, the miscreants had torched six shops and set several vehicles ablaze including a bus, tractor and more than a dozen two-wheelers.
About 10 people, including some policemen, were injured in the violence that followed the stone-pelting. The shops and the vehicles were gutted as fire tenders arrived after half-anhour.
“Such communal incidents are nothing new. The town was peaceful about 20-25 years ago, but now such incidents take place every two to three years,” Madan Mohan Das, a priest at the local Hanuman temple said. “The crowd got angry after a Mahant leading the procession was hit by a stone,” he said. A Ram Navami procession was also taken out in the same locality a few days ago but no untoward incident was reported.
“Police and the administration were clearly not prepared and had not anticipated such violence,” said a local journalist, who did not want to be named.
On Sunday, people stayed indoors and shops were shut. The only vehicles visible on the road belonged to the police and the local administration.
Senior officials, including inspector general of police Hawa Singh Ghumaria, are camping in the town.
In the last fortnight, this was the third incident of communal violence in Rajasthan, with communal clashes reported from Bundi and Tonk — also on occasions of Hindu festivals.