Friday prayers: Police deployment to continue
LUCKNOW: Heavy police deployment will continue across the state consecutively for the third Friday (June 24) of this month despite the previous Friday (June 17) remaining peaceful after prayers. Police officials said elaborate security arrangements have been made for Friday prayers, and extensive foot patrolling will be conducted across the state to ensure peace and avert any law and order trouble. Clerics and religious leaders have been asked to assist police in maintaining communal harmony.
To recall, violence was reported after prayers on two consecutive Fridays-- on June 3 and June 10-- in protest against insulting remarks allegedly made by suspended BJP national spokesman Nupur Sharma against Prophet Mohammed during an electronic channel debate.
Violence broke out in Kanpur after Friday prayers on June 3 and then in 10 districts, including Prayagraj, Saharanpur, Firozabad and Moradabad, on June 10. As many as 423 people have been arrested so far in 20 different FIRs lodged in 10 districts.“We are all prepared for Friday prayers on June 24. A detailed advisory has been issued to police officials across different districts to present the same level of alertness and intensified vigilance to avert any trouble. The police deployment will be rather enhanced to ensure peace,” said Prashant Kumar, additional director general (law and order). He said special deployments will be made in the 10 districts where trouble was reported last Friday.
He said patrolling will be conducted in Muslim-dominated areas and near mosques to instil security in people and send a warning to trouble makers. Another senior official said special deployments will be done in 10 districts, including Kanpur city, Firozabad, Aligarh, Hathras, Moradabad, Ambedkarnagar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Jalaun, Saharanpur and Prayagraj. A close watch will be kept on other sensitive districts like Meerut, Sambhal, Shamli, Lucknow,
Bareilly, Rampur, Budaun, Agra, Mau, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Ayodhya, Bahraich and Gonda.
The ADG said the strategic deployment has been chalked out this time so that police may keep an eye on every activity of people coming to offer prayers. He said the deployment would continue till people reach their homes after offering prayers. He added that CCTV cameras and drones will also be used to monitor the crowds.
On the previous Friday (June 17), the state police had made elaborate arrangements with over 141 companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and 10 companies of paramilitary forces and over 1.25 lakh civil police personnel. Besides, around 5,000 CCTV cameras were installed to keep a constant watch and 56 drones were used for aerial surveillance.
Peace marches (Sadhbavna marches) and meetings with clerics and religious leaders were also held on Thursday and Friday, appealing to people to maintain peace.