Thirteen members of a minority community have been booked following allegations of stone-pelting and sloganeering during a “shobha yatra” taken out as part of Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in Haridwar on Saturday night. The alleged incident took place when the procession of over 100 people was passing through a 200-metre Muslim belt in the Danda Jalalpur village under the Bhagwanpur police station area. Heavy police force has been deployed in the village and police teams are combing the area in search of others involved. Uttarakhand | Stone-pelting incident during Hanuman Jayanti procession in a village in Bhagwanpur area, Haridwar It occurred last evening, some elements jeopardised communal harmony there.Police was deployed, brought situation under control & perpetrators arrested: YS Rawat, SSP pic.twitter.com/DtoT5iDIUW — ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 17, 2022 The FIR was registered under Sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 195 A (threatening any person to give false evidence), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the IPC. At least nine of the named accused have been arrested so far. “The procession was planned for around 3 pm but it got delayed and started at 6 pm on Saturday. Around 8.10 pm when the procession, in which religious slogans were being raised, was passing through a Muslim-dominated stretch, some people started hurling stones at the procession. Police teams responded soon and brought the situation under control. Around 2-3 persons have received minor injuries,” said Garhwal (Range) DIG Karan Singh Nagnyal.
