Six days after communal clashes broke out in Mewat district of Haryana, the market and business establishments remained shut here even though curfew has been relaxed during the day. The tension has spread to surrounding areas of Sohna, Bhiwadi, Palwal and Pataudi, where some traders observed a partial bandh in support of the business community in Tauru.
The market in Tauru is dominated by Hindu traders who are refusing to open their shops until the weapons used to attack their shops are confiscated and action taken against the culprits. They have also refused to join the peace committee suggested by the administration. On Friday, scattered groups of sullen shopkeepers sat outside closed shutters as police and paramilitary forces patrolled the deserted market.
Senior Superintendent of Police Simardeep Singh said though they have registered more than a dozen FIRs, no one has yet been arrested. Raids conducted at several places in the district too have not yielded any weapons, he informed.
Two youths received bullet injuries and several persons were injured in the indiscriminate firing and looting by a mob in the busy market place on Sunday following the severe beating up of two Muslim boys. The boys driving an overloaded dumper truck had rammed into a motorcyclist Daanvir Kumar, who died on the spot. Enraged at this, a mob beat them up severely and the two were shifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in a critical condition.
On Thursday, after their condition improved, they were moved to a private hospital in Gurgaon. One Deputy Superintendent of Police Sukhbir Singh was also injured in the violence when he and his posse of policemen tried to restrain the arsonists.
Meanwhile, Union Minister and Gurgaon MP, Rao Inderjeet Singh of the BJP along with senior party leaders visited the district on Thursday, but were not allowed in Tauru town as a precautionary measure. He met representatives of one community at Pathrehri, seven kilometres from here and assured them of their safety. The Deputy Commissioner Ramesh Verma told The Hindu that he is not permitting any MLA or minister to visit the town as their presence could aggravate tensions.
