Argument over norms violation sparks clashes

HYDERABAD: The police arrested 25 people, imposed prohibitory orders and reinforced security in communally sensitive Bhainsa town of Telangana’s Nirmal district on Monday after clashes erupted between people belonging to two communities late on Sunday night.

According to the police, trouble began with people from one community protesting against the other for not following social distancing norms during the ongoing coronavirus disease lockdown.

Around 11 pm, a person belonging to the second community allegedly created a scene in the Sivajinagar area after consuming alcohol, sparking clashes between the two groups, which attacked each other with stones and sticks.

The police who had been patrolling the area to enforce the lockdown dispersed the two groups. Nirmal district superintendent of police C Shashidhar Raju and Karimnagar range deputy inspector general P Pramod Kumar then reached Bhainsa .

Around 200 policemen and 300 Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed to prevent violence in the town, where the authorities enforced orders preventing the public assembly of four or more people. Commercial establishments were closed in Bhainsa on Monday. “One person was injured in the clashes and a few vehicles got damaged, including the window panes of a fourwheeler,” Raju said. He said the situation was under control. “25 persons have been taken into custody...The lockdown will be implemented more strictly in Bhainsa,” he said.