Sambhal violence: UP Police to put up posters with photos of protesters
Days after violence broke out in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal, killing four people and injuring several others, the police said protesters have been identified through video footage from drone cameras and CCTV footage from the area.
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Police personnel stand guard near the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on Monday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)The police in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal are planning to put up posters with photographs of more than 100 protesters who were allegedly involved in firing shots and pelting stones during the violence that broke out in the town on November 24 after a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid. Four people were killed and several policemen were injured in the clashes.
“No innocents will be persecuted but those whom we have identified through video footage of the drone cameras and the available CCTV footage of the area that day will face strict punitive action. We have sought help from our cyber cell sleuths to identify those involved in the incident. Their posters with photographs will be put up at main crossings and help has been sought from local people to help police in getting those whom we have identified through various sources arrested,” Krishna Kumar Bishnoi, Superintendent of Police (SP), Sambhal, said.
Three days after the clashes, the town was slowly limping back to normalcy on Wednesday with schools and colleges opening. Several shops had opened on Tuesday. Students and customers, however, have stayed away, sources said. Several houses in the vicinity of the mosque have locks on their doors and their occupants have shifted to other places in town or to relatives’ homes in nearby districts, sources added.
Police detain AISA members during a protest against UP Government over Sambhal violence, at UP Bhawan in New Delhi (PTI Photo/Vijay Verma)
While the local police conducted a flag march on the streets to instil security among locals, the internet remained suspended on Wednesday as a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile, the family members of those who died during the violence lodged First Information Reports (FIRs) at Sambhal Kotwali and Nakhasa police stations late Tuesday evening claiming that their sons died in police firing.
“The FIRs have been registered but I have appealed to people to come out with evidence (of police firing). We will certainly take action. Those who died fell victim to mob violence as we have postmortem reports to corroborate our claim that none died of police firing,” SP Bishnoi said.
A total of eight FIRs have been lodged against six named and around 2,500 unidentified people. The police have already booked Ziaur Rahman Barq, the Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, and Suhel Iqbal, the son of Samajwadi Party MLA Nawab Iqbal Mohammed, for provoking the mob violence on Sunday.
A priest and six others had filed a civil suit claiming that a temple once stood at the site of the Shahi Jama Masjid and that it was demolished in the 16th century. Subsequently, the first court-ordered survey of the mosque was conducted on November 19. Violence broke out on Sunday when a court-appointed advocate commissioner and six members of his team entered the mosque for a second survey.
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