Curfew imposed in Bardoli

SURAT, June 25: Curfew was imposed in Bardoli town late on Thursday afternoon following incidents of stone-throwing and arson that erupted a...

SURAT, June 25: Curfew was imposed in Bardoli town late on Thursday afternoon following incidents of stone-throwing and arson that erupted after the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Hindu organisations took out a rally to submit a memorandum to the mamlatdar.

A sub-inspector and two others were injured in the stone-throwing, while at least four shops in two localities and a house in another locality were burnt. Unconfirmed reports said two mosques 8212; the Jama Masjid and the Minara Masjid 8212; were damaged.

Trouble started when the 2,000-strong rally 8212; called by Hindu organisations that decided last evening to 8220;boycott8221; the minority community, their shops and auto-rickshaws, on charges that its members were forcibly marrying majority community girls 8212; was passing by a mosque. Though police deployment was stepped up along the rally route, trouble started as soon as the rally reached Bhandariwad.

According to one version, the rallyists themselves started pelting the stones, while another story claimed stones were thrown from areas surrounding the shrine.

Sub-inspector Singh and two others were injured in the stone-throwing. When the situation appeared to take a turn for the worse, the police lobbed around 20 teargas shells to scare away the mobs. The curfew was clamped by 4.45 p.m. as a precautionary measure.

Reports said two of the shops were burnt even before the rally started from Jalaram mandir, while two others were burnt later. The lone residential house that was burnt reportedly belonged to a minority community boy allegedly involved with a majority community girl.

Curfew was not enforced strictly as in many areas the police asked the people to remain in their localities and not come on to the main roads. The Station Road bore the brunt of curfew but areas like Shastri Road witnessed movements of both people and vehicle.

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Late in the night, the police described the situation as tense but under control. Senior police officers, including District Superintendent of Police B D Vaghela, Range IG O P Mathur are camping in the town. District Collector R M Shah also visited the town.

Mandvi MP Chhitubhai Gamit and five Congress MLAs from South Gujarat, meanwhile, alleged that the police had actively colluded with the rallyists, who were carrying arms openly.

They demanded to know how Hindu organisations had been given the permission to take out the rally and sought a judicial inquiry into the riots while strongly condemning the incidents of attack on the minority community. They claimed shrines were damaged in stone pelting.