WhatsApp picture sends Moradabad to edge, communal cauldron simmers

BAREILLY: Moradabad city was tense on Sunday after members of the Muslim community, angered by an objectionable image on WhatsApp, lobbed stones at a police station and reportedly manhandled some policemen.

Police said a Hindu youngster from Nagfani area sent the image to a Muslim via WhatsApp on Saturday. The recipient downloaded the image and found it “seriously objectionable”. He then informed other Muslims about the message.

Angered, several members of the Muslim community trooped to the Nagfani police station late on Saturday and demanded the immediate arrest of people involved in circulating the image during the holy month of Ramzan.

Police assurances that those involved would be arrested soon failed to pacify the angry crowd. Some people hurled stones and reportedly manhandled the policemen.

Officials said the crowd also torched a motorcycle parked outside the station.

As news of spread, members of the Muslim community also ‘gheraoed’ the Mughalpura police station.

The local administration deployed a substantial police force in the area and dispersed the crowd. They also succeeded in preventing a clash, officials said.

Moradabad is located in the communally-sensitive western Uttar Pradesh. Bloody riots tore through the region’s Muzaffar nagar district in September 2013, killing nearly 50 people and displacing thousands.

Officials on Saturday described the situation in Moradabad as “tense but completely under control” and said intelligence agencies had been put on high alert. Once the accused is arrested, he will be produced in court on Monday, police said.

“Police have registered a case. A team of IT experts has been deployed to identify the accused. Once we arrest the accused, strict action will be ensured against him by imposing the National Security Act (NSA),” district magistrate Deepak Agarwal said.

BJP MLC Jaipal Singh Vyast, who belongs to Moradabad, condemned the incident and said strict action should be ensured against the accused who tried to breach the city’s peace.