Twenty-two people have been arrested by the Palwal Police in connection with the communal violence that broke out between two communities in Teekri Brahman village here on Sunday. Thirty-nine people had sustained injuries.
Amid allegations and counter-allegations by the members of the two communities, the police said that the violence was sparked after a few youths passed lewd comments on a woman who had gone to fetch water and wash clothes at a handpump on the outskirts of the village.
“It led to a minor scuffle between the youth of the two communities present there and soon it blew up into a full-fledged violence,” said Mamta Singh, Inspector General of Police (South Range).
Ms. Singh said that though the clashes following the eve-teasing were brought under control, the situation turned ugly with the people from the neighbouring Hindu villages getting themselves embroiled in it.
Kasim, a local, claimed that Hindu men from neighbouring villages of Phulwari, Bhamrola, Rehrana and Chirawat comprised the mob that attacked them.
“While the police remained engaged with stone pelters at one end of the village, mostly dominated by the Hindus, the mob from the neighbouring villages attacked us armed with lathis, axes and bricks,” said Kasim.
Rasidan (40) said that all her family members were asleep in a room on the ground floor when the mob suddenly surrounded their double-storey house and started raining stones and bricks.
“I somehow managed to climb up the stairs and locked myself along with the children in a room on the first floor. The mob went on a rampage inside the house attacking and injuring my husband Hasan Khan, a car mechanic, and setting our belongings on fire. They also broke the window panes and doors, and damaged the car parked inside. The police came almost two hours after the incident,” said Rasidan.
Another Muslim woman Amrudi recalled how 400-strong Hindu mob scaled the compound wall of her house to attack them.
“My husband has gone on a pilgrimage and I was alone with five children when the mob attacked. We all ran to the roof and hid ourselves inside a room. Some Hindu men then climbed up and wanted to push us from the roof, but relented after my fervent request to them,” said Amrudi.
Another woman claimed that the mob stripped her sister-in-law and beat her up badly.
Kasim claimed that six houses and two motorcycles and a tractor belonging to his community were torched .
Meanwhile, uneasy calm prevails in the village with the deployment of police personnel.
Two companies of the police and one company of the Rapid Action Force are stationed in the village. The police have registered a first information report, but there are so far no complaints from the two sides.
“We have constituted a peace committee to talk to the two sides and resolve the differences,” said Ms. Singh.
