71 booked, 1 held after stone pelting outside mosque in Hazaribagh

“The stone-pelting was not unprovoked. However, the action of neither side can be justified, and we are in the process of identifying those involved, after which they will be arrested,” the SP said.

Hazaribagh district has seen communal tensions over the years, particularly during the time of the Ram Navami festival.

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Hazaribagh Police have named 71 persons as accused in an FIR and arrested one of them in connection with a stone pelting incident Sunday night after “objectionable slogans” were raised outside a mosque in Katkamsandi area, injuring three.

Around 8.30 pm, the police said that a group of people returning in a bus from a VHP event in Ranchi raised “objectionable slogans” in front of Pelawal Mosque near Katkamsandi area of Hazaribagh that was met with stone-throwing by local residents. Police said that members of both communities have been booked. The injured were taken to the Sadar Hospital, the police said.

Hazaribagh Headquarters Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajiv Kumar told The Indian Express, “Seventy-one people from both the communities have been named in the FIR and one person has been arrested so far.”

Hazaribagh SP Manoj Ratan Chothe told The Indian Express that the incident unfolded in front of a police patrolling team, which was in the vicinity. “The bus passengers were returning from Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Shaurya Yatra in Ranchi. It seems they were VHP workers and also from other outfits. Around 8.30 pm, they stopped the bus in front of the mosque and started raising objectionable slogans, after which the locals reacted and started pelting stones at the bus. Three people have been injured,” Chothe said.

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