Tension prevailed in Haryana’s Mewat after stones were pelted on Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Religious Mewat Yatra by Viswa Hindu Parishad, on Monday. According to reports, one vehicle of the religious procession was attacked by people from a Minority community.
Day after communal violence in Haryana’s Nuh in which two home guards were killed and at least 15 others, including several policemen, were injured, the state government took several measures, including deployment of additional armed forces in the affected areas to control the situation.
Gurugram Police Commissioner Kala Ramachandran said two home guards, attached with her district, were killed in the violence in adjoining Nuh. About 10 police personnel injured in Nuh violence, the official said. Another police officer said home guard Neeraj Neeraj died due to a gunshot wound. The other home guard killed in the violence was identified as Gursevak.
Eight of the injured police personnel were taken to Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital, the official said. Among the injured, Hodal Deputy Superintendent of Police Sajjan Singh was shot in the head and an inspector in the stomach, he said.
The Union Home Ministry was dispatching 15 companies of central forces to Haryana, as violence also erupted in Sohna in neighbouring Gurugram district, adjacent to Delhi. As news of the clash in Muslim-dominated Nuh spread, mobs in Sohna pelted stones and set ablaze four vehicles and a shop, belonging to people from that community. Protesters there blocked a road for hours.
On Monday, police lobbed teargas shells to disperse crowds and summoned reinforcements from other areas as the two sides hurled stones at each other. Tension gripped the area and internet services were restricted. Nuh Deputy Commissioner called a meeting of both parties on Monday at 8:30 pm.
According to police, the Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra was stopped by a group of young men near Khedla Mod in Nuh, and stones pelted at the procession. “One or two cars” in the procession were set on fire, and official said. People in the procession hurled stones back at the youths who had stopped them, reports said.
The yatra was flagged off earlier from Gurugram’s Civil Lines by BJP district president Gargi Kakkar. A police contingent was deployed with the procession. Police said some people were injured but were not immediately able to give the numbers.
According to some claims, the trigger for the clash was an objectionable video posted on social media by a Bajrang Dal activist in Ballabhgarh. “The situation in the area is stable,” Nuh SHO Hukam Singh said later.
The stone-pelting incident took place at a chowk about 2 km from the temple. Workers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad also retaliated against the attackers with stones.
Releasing an official statement, the VHP had informed that “the Brajmandal (Mewat) Jalabhishek Yatra under the auspices of Vishva Hindu Parishad’s Yuva Shakti Bajrang Dal, starting from Nalhad Mahadev Temple at 10:00 am today, July 31, 2023, will end at Shringar Temple, Punhana,”
A few people were injured in the incident. According to media reports, 2,500 men, women and children have taken shelter in a temple following the violence. Internet has been suspended in the area, and prohibitory orders have been clamped down to prevent further violence.
