Police fired in the air to disperse an angry mob after an alleged remark by a police officer over the wearing of ‘burqa’ triggered tension among members of a minority community at the One Town police station here on Saturday night.
When Superintendent of Police Gajarao Bhupal went to the spot to pacify the crowd, protesters attacked his vehicle and broke its window shields, forcing police to fire in the air. Later, the SP left the scene. Mayor Abdul Aziz also rushed to the spot.. It is learnt that rumours spread by a local leader trigged tension.
Mr. Bhupal dismissed the rumours as baseless and said that tension arose after some policemen prevented some youths from a minority community from entering a meeting venue on Friday. Mr. Bhupal said the issue had nothing to do with burqa. “Anyhow, it was a mistake on the part our men. I tried to pacify them. I visited the police station and offered to tender an apology,” Mr. Bhupal said.
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The trouble started around 10.30 p.m. when some members of the community arrived at the police station to register their protest. They did not relent despite the intervention of people’s representatives.
Tension at Nellore police station over alleged remark over veil; SP dismisses it as baseless