In its interim report to the Home Ministry, the Uttar Pradesh government said that fresh violence erupted in Saharanpur on May 23 as three persons were attacked while “they returned from former chief minister Mayawati’s rally”.
The report, however, does not mention the role of the Bhim Army, a group of Dalit thinkers and activists, which has been accused by the police for instigating the violence.
The report, available with The Hindu , says that certain “anti-social” elements torched a police vehicle on May 5 and “burnt around 15-20 houses belonging to Scheduled Caste”. It was on May 5 that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Raghav Lakhanpal tried to take out a procession of Rajputs from a Dalit village with loud music to garland a bust of the 16th century Rajput king Maharana Pratap, stoking further violence.
The report chronicles the sequence of events on May 5, May 9 and May 23 but does not mention the April 24 incident, which triggered the clashes when Rajputs allegedly stopped Dalits from installing a statue of B.R. Ambedkar inside the Ravidas temple at the Shabbirpur village in Saharanpur.
Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh has been on the boil for over a month due to tensions between the two communities. The Home Ministry has sent 400 personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the anti-riot police to Saharanpur to aid the U.P. government in restoring peace in the region.
Fresh clashes
The forces were sent after a request from the Uttar Pradesh government. Two people have been killed and 40 injured so far in the caste clashes. Home Ministry spokesperson Ashok Prasad said that one person was shot dead and two people were injured in the clashes between the two communities on May 23, following which three First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered and 24 people arrested.
On May 5, another person was killed and 15 people were injured in a fresh bout of violence.
Nine FIRs were registered on that day and 17 people were arrested.
About a dozen police vehicles were set ablaze and 12 policemen were injured on May 9, Mr. Prasad quoted from the Uttar Pradesh government’s report.
