Mathura tense as violence claims 2

Senior police officers, including Rajiv Gupta, Commissioner (Agra Division), and Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, DIG (Agra), are camping in the area.

Monday’s violence took place in front of the Govind Nagar police station, about 50 metres from the disputed Krishna Janambhoomi site. The violence was sparked by a dispute over a plot of land, measuring about 1000 square yards, located in front of Shri Ji Mandir Ashram in the Bhuteswar area.

Trouble had erupted on Sunday afternoon when the reported owners of the plot, Murlidhar Choudhury and Mahipal Singh, were constructing a boundary wall. Following an Allahabad High Court order of August 11, the occupants of the plot — slum-dwellers — had been evicted from the plot the next day. The owners had been fighting a case for the past 20 years at the Allahabad High Court over the plot.

According to the police, members of the minority community objected to the construction of the wall, claiming the plot was being used as a graveyard by them under the supervision of the Wakf Board, a claim rebutted by the majority community.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Ashok Kumar, SSP, Mathura, said: “The situation had become normal Sunday night. Trouble began Monday morning once again when they wanted to bury the person at the plot who died in yesterday’s firing. We negotiated with them for about four hours but failed. They then turned violent. At first we tried to disperse the 1,500-strong crowd with rubber bullets and tear-gas. But they started firing at us with country-made guns. They even threw crude bombs besides acid-filled bottles and bricks at us. Finally, we had to resort to firing.” The Indian Express team found bricks, bottles etc strewn all over Maulana Azad Road, better known as Dareshi Road.

However, the residents of the area adjoining Govind Nagar police station alleged the violence had erupted due to police high-handedness. “Today there was violence since the police fired at us without any provocation. We just wanted to bury the 12-year-old Kale at the graveyard. The police did not allow us and started firing at us. In the commotion that followed, my 22-year-old nephew, Musthakin, got killed,”said Mohd Fareed Qureshi.

Meanwhile, the district administration has deployed five additional companies of the police, including the Rapid Action Force and the Provincial Armed Constabulary beside two companies of Uttar Pradesh police. The RAF held a flag march in the riot-affected area in the evening.

As a precautionary measure, all the districts in Agra division — Agra, Aligarh, Ferozabad, Etah, Mathura, Hathras and Mainpuri — have been put on high alert.