Andhra Pradesh Muslims pelt stones at Durga puja procession, 4 killed in communal clashes
Posted by jagoindia on October 10, 2008
4 killed in communal riots in AP
Friday, 10 October , 2008, 22:27
Hyderabad: Four people were killed and 15 others were injured in communal riots and police firing on Friday in an Andhra Pradesh town, officials said.
The violence broke out during the immersion procession of Durga idols in Bhainsa town in Adilabad district, about 280 km from here.
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The trouble began after Friday prayers. While one group claimed that the participants in the procession pelted stones at a place of worship, the other group alleged that some people pelted stones at the procession from the place of worship.
The two groups attacked each other with stones and also looted and set afire 40 shops and 12 vehicles. Some miscreants barged into a ginning factory and torched three cotton-laden trucks, the police said.
The police caned clashing groups and, when this failed to have any effect, opened fire in the air. Police officials said they opened fire on the violent mobs after firing 35 rounds in the air.
Prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more persons have been imposed in the entire town and additional police forces were being rushed from other parts of the district.
3 killed in communal clashes in Andhra Pradesh
10 Oct 2008, 2212 hrs IST,TNN
BHAINSA (ANDHRA PRADESH): Three people were killed and six seriously injured in rioting and clashes between two communities in Bhainsa in Adilabad district on Friday afternoon. The district police said the situation was tense but under control. Additional forces have been rushed and prohibitory orders clamped on the town.
Clashes were also reported from Nirmal town in the district and police have imposed prohibitory orders there as well as a precautionary measure.
According to police, the clashes occurred when a Durga Puja procession was passing by devotees offering Friday prayers at a mosque. “The Durga Devi shobha yatra (procession) reached Masjid Panjeshah in central market around 1.00pm when devotees objected to the Durga processionists playing songs when their prayers were under way.
This led to stone-pelting by both the groups and grew into rioting, stabbing and burning of shops and vehicles,” one official said.
Police rushed to the spot and tried to cool tempers and get the groups to talk to each other but their efforts went in vain. The clashes did not stop even after police resorted to a lathicharge. Finally, they fired 35 rounds of ammunition in the air.
In all, about 40 shops and 12 vehicles were torched by the rival mobs.
The dead were identified as Afsar Ahmed, 24, Abdul Kayyum, 22 and Bhutan, said to be a Marathi immigrant.”All three died because of stabbing,” Adilabad collector Ahmed Nadim told TOI. Adilabad Congress MP A Indrasena Reddy too told TOI that he had seen the bodies and found only stab wounds and no bullet injuries.
Abdul Majid, who sustained a serious bullet injury in the firing, was shifted to Nizamabad first and then to Hyderabad. He is in a critical condition. Peace committees belonging to the two communities have been set up to initiate a dialogue, the collector added. Referring to Nirmal, Nadim said a few people had gathered there but were quickly dispersed and ban orders clamped.
Adilabad SP Anil Kumar told TOI that the situation was tense but under control and that Section 144 had been imposed on the town to ensure normalcy. Observers said there was a major bungling by the district administration in allowing the Hindu procession to cross a mosque on a Friday afternoon. Not only that, the Durga puja procession, which comprised about 500 people, was accompanied by only one circle inspector, one sub-inspector and four constables. “In a town which has had communal clashes in the past, such inadequate measures are shocking,” said one senior official.
