One person has been killed and 10 others injured after they tried to disrupt the police interrogation of a person held for putting an objectionable post in Satara district of Maharashtra.
Objectionable Instagram posts by some youth from a particular community led to communal tensions in the Pusesawali village in Khatao tehsil, some 150 kilometres from Pune.
As the youth was being questioned by police on Sunday night around 9.30 p.m., members of another community tried to disrupt it. In the process, they burnt some vehicles, and vandalised a few residential and commercial properties.
“One person has been seriously injured and multiple houses have been set on fire,” said a senior officer from Satara district police.
Satara’s Superintendent of Police, Sameer Shaikh, confirmed the same with The Hindu on Monday and said, “We have put jammers all over Satara and shut down the Internet for two days to restore peace.”
Twenty three suspects have been taken into custody and booked under sections of attempt to murder, rioting, promoting enmity between two communities and destruction of public property under the Indian Penal Code.
He added, “We have issued prohibitory orders and urged the people to not believe any rumours. The situation is under control.” Mr Shaikh however, did not disclose the nature of the post and the details of the suspect or the mob.
Kolhapur Zone Special Inspector General of Police, Sunil Phulari, and Mr. Shaikh issued a joint statement on Monday that said, “An incident involving an objectionable status message uploaded on social media on occurred Sunday. The citizens misunderstood the message as communal, posing a law-and-order situation on ground. Those injured have been taken to hospital and are doing fine.”
