Parts of the communally sensitive region of western Uttar Pradesh simmered again on Saturday over an attack on a group of Tablighi Jamaat volunteers allegedly by Jat youths in a local train. Seventeen persons, including several police personnel, were injured in a clash between Muslims of the Kandhla area in Shamli district and the local police on Saturday.
According to the Shamli Superintendent of Police Vijay Bhushan, agitated members of the minority community gathered outside the Kandhla Police station, demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits.
He said the mob indulged in violence, pelting stones on the police station and setting police vehicles on fire, an allegation which the Shamli Samajwadi Party MLA Nahid Hasan denied.
ADVERTISEMENT
A five-member team of Tablighi Jamaat, a Muslim organisation, was beaten up by some local youths in a Delhi-Kandhla train on Friday near Baghpat.
“The situation is a bit tense but under control. Police pickets have been posted in the area to prevent any untoward incident,” Mr. Bhushan said.
Tension gripped Kandhla and villages in its vicinity in Shamli with Muslims in the area being reminded of a “series of provocative attacks” on different religious communities that took place in the run-up to the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013.
ADVERTISEMENT