Communal tension gripped Udaipur on Friday (August 16, 2024) after a fight between two students of a government school, in which one of them was allegedly stabbed with a knife. Members of the Hindu right-wing outfits gathered in the city’s Madhuban area after the incident and indulged in arson and violence.
Prohibitory orders banning the assembly of people were clamped in Udaipur after the protesters set fire to half a dozen cars parked in a garage, ransacked the outlets in a mall, damaged some shops, tried to storm into at least two religious places and indulged in stone pelting at several localities in the city.
The 15-year-old injured student was rushed to Maharana Bhupal Government Hospital, where he was recuperating in the intensive care unit. Udaipur Collector Arvind Poswal said the minor boy who had allegedly stabbed the victim and fled the scene had been detained and his father arrested. The charges against the boy’s father were not officially stated.
The two classmates, studying in class 10 at the Government Senior Secondary School at Bhatiyani Chauhatta in the Walled City, had a fight in their classroom in the morning. During the lunch break, the two boys went to the school’s entrance gate and fought again. One of them allegedly stabbed the other in his thigh during the scuffle.
A huge crowd gathered outside the hospital where the injured student was receiving treatment and raised slogans. Udaipur MP Manna Lal Rawat, Udaipur City MLA Tarachand Jain, Udaipur Rural MLA Phool Singh Meena and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Samar were among those who reached the hospital to enquire about the boy’s condition.
Mr. Poswal said a team of doctors was treating the injured child, who was expected to recover soon. He appealed to the people not to pay heed to rumours and said additional police force had been deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
After the incidents of arson, police resorted to lathicharge in Madhuban and Chetak Circle areas to disperse the crowd. While the situation in the city was stated to be tense and the markets remained closed during the day, Director-General of Police Utkal Ranjan Sahoo instructed the local police officers to take all measures to maintain law and order.
Published - August 16, 2024 11:59 pm IST
