With the deployment of additional forces, the security arrangements have been stepped up in Nuh and other areas following the Sarv Jatiya Hindu Mahapanchayat's call for a ‘shobha yatra’ on Monday, despite the authorities denying permission for the procession. The security personnel, including those from paramilitary forces, have been deployed to keep a strict vigil.
Security at the inter-state and inter-district borders has also been tightened, said the state’s Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order, Mamta Singh on Sunday, adding that the arrangements have been made to prevent any untoward incidents.
Police spokesperson said that in Nuh, as many as 1,900 Haryana Police personnel and 24 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed. “No outsider will be allowed to enter Nuh. All entry points to the district have been sealed and the road leading to Malhar temple has also been closed…Traffic on the KMP Expressway and the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, however, will continue,” said the spokesperson.
Nuh Deputy Commissioner Dhirendra Khadgata and Superintendent of Police Narendra Bijarniya on Saturday held a meeting with peace committees, the officials said.
The state Director General of Police (DGP) Shatrujeet Kapoor also presided over a meeting with senior officers of bordering states — Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Union Territory of Chandigarh — through videoconferencing and called for coordinated efforts to effectively deal with any emerging situation.
Kapoor on Saturday had said that the Administration had denied permission for the yatra due to a meeting of the G20 Sherpa Group, scheduled to be held in Nuh during September 3-7, and to maintain law and order in the aftermath of the July 31 violence.
Moreover, on August 13, the Sarv Jatiya Hindu Mahapanchayat had given a call to resume the Brij Mandal Shobha Yatra in Nuh on August 28 which was disrupted after communal clashes in July. The Vishva Hindu Parishad has said that the procession will be taken out and asserted that there is no need to obtain permission for such religious events.
Meanwhile, as a precautionary measure, the District Administration has ordered the closure of all educational institutions and banks on the day. Mobile internet and bulk SMS services have also been suspended, and prohibitory orders have been imposed in the communally-sensitive district.
The Administration has also imposed Section 144 of the CrPC, prohibiting the assembly of four or more people in an area, till Monday.
In another development, police said that Ferozepur Jhirka MLA Mamman Khan has been issued a notice to join the investigation on August 30 about the July 31 Nuh violence incident. Some Hindu organizations had accused Congress MLA Khan of making provocative statements.
Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, were killed in the communal clashes that erupted in Nuh and its adjoining areas after a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession was attacked by a mob on July 31.
Borders Sealed Ahead of Yatra
Appearing to have learnt from its past “mistakes” that led to communal clashes during a religious procession on July 31, Haryana Government has decided to seal its borders with neighbouring Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh ahead of August 28 ‘shobha yatra’ in Nuh, called by the right wing outfits despite denial of permission by the local administration. The police deployment has been stepped up around mosques while paramilitary forces continue to keep vigil in Nuh district after the clashes.
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‘No yatra in Nuh’: Hry CM urges people to worship in local temples
Panchkula: Asking the VHP and Bajrang Dal not to carry out their ‘Jalabhishek Yatra’ proposed for August 28 in Nuh, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday urged the people to instead worship in local temples. Khattar, speaking on the sidelines of a programme in Panchkula, said: “Since there was a law-and-order situation during the yatra last month, permission to carry this yatra was not given. The authorities have already made an appeal to the organizers and devotees to avoid such yatra again and urged them to perform poojas in local temples, which is a routine practice during the month of sawan.”
Haryana police have also urged the people to avoid proceeding towards Nuh on August 28. “Permission has not been granted by the Nuh District Administration for the Jalabhishek Yatra in the district on August 28, hence all are requested not to proceed towards Nuh for the Yatra,” the police posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Haryana home minister Anil Vij has said that the state police is fully alert to maintain the law and order.
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Hry safe, nobody should worry about it: Khattar on Punjab CM's remark on Nuh clashes
Haryana is safe and nobody should worry about it, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Sunday, a day after his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann claimed that governors of BJP-ruled Manipur and Haryana were "silent" on the law-and-order situation there.
Mann made the remark on Saturday as he lashed out at Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit for "threatening" to impose President's rule in the state.
Replying to a question on the Punjab chief minister's remarks, Khattar on Sunday said, "Haryana is safe and nobody should worry about it. If there is a talk of (imposing) President's rule, it is for there (Punjab)."
Mann had said that while the AAP government in Punjab had been taking proactive steps to tackle the scourge of drugs, confiscating, raiding properties of smugglers, and going after gangsters with the formation of an Anti-Gangster Task Force, the Governor claims law and order in the state was not good.
“I want to ask Governor Sahab, has the Haryana Governor issued any notice to Haryana Chief Minister Khattar regarding what happened in Nuh, communal clashes and violence that took place there and curfew had to be imposed? Did the Haryana Governor write any letter to Khattar? No, because their government is also ruling at the Centre,” he had said.