Police tested as hundreds seek karbala entry

Hundreds gathered at the entry gates of nursery, where the Shia shrine is situated, to perform the ‘alam’ flag ritual. However, the people refused to perform the ritual as directed by the court and demanded that they be allowed to perform it in the traditional manner. The situation became unruly after some of them tried to cross the barricades that had been set up by police.

A senior police officer said a “few people” involved in the rioting were detained. “A case will be registered,” the officer said, adding that five policemen have been injured during the incident.

“According to the High Court order, only two members from each group were allowed to enter. But the people tried to barge inside… a team of Rapid Action Force along with 100 local personnel was rushed to the spot and situation was brought under control ,” police officer said.

Members of Anjuman-e-Haidari, the body responsible for the maintenance of the shrine, too, tried to calm crowd and urged them to abide by the High Court directive. Following this, the people returned to the “bada karbala” to perform the ritual.

The ‘alam’ flag ritual and the ritual of paying respects at the seven graves in the nursery was kept at abeyance, after leaders of the Shia community decided that all ‘alam’ will be made to stand at Karbala till mandatory rituals were completed.

“For the first time, we have been stopped from performing rituals. We will abide by the court order today. But all ‘alam’ will be made to stand at the karbala site till mandatory rituals are allowed to be completed. Today’s incident is a direct infringement of the Constitutional guarantee of freedom to practice religion,” Syed Bahudar Abbas Naqvi, general secretary of Anjuman-e-Haidari, said.

“Since the High Court in on vacation, we will challenge the order on January 3. We will ensure that police submit a report, after which we will ask for permission to complete the ritual,” he said.

During the day, the Anjuman-e-Haidari told the Delhi Police that is was unable to provide a list of all those participating in the alam procession. The High Court had directed that the names be furnished to police by 12 noon on Tuesday.

“We have written a letter to the SHO on the difficulty in submitting the names. However, we had asked to hold a meeting with police to resolve the issue. But police did not respond to our request,” Naqvi said.