n After the initial struggle of district police to contain a sensitive situation that was on the verge of flaring up in the city, the police managed to stop it from escalating. Members of a community held a protest at Gandhi Park against the incident of alleged mob-lynching in Jharkhand. On the other hand, to protest against the incident of a temple being vandalised in Chandni Chowk, Delhi members of various organisations held a protest march from Parade Ground to the Dehradun District Magistrate’s office. The groups rallying in protest alleged that two of their members were beaten by members of the other community near Inamullah building. The situation was escalating, considering which the police had to use force in order to disperse the groups from both communities.
Director General of Police (DGP) Anil K Raturi said, “Law and order will not be disturbed under any circumstances. We will be working more efficiently towards traffic management.”
Dehradun Additional District Magistrate, Ramji Sharan Sharma who received the memorandum from the groups rallying in protest said, “We have heard their demands and received the memorandum. We will be looking into it and taking action accordingly. Those who thought that they will be able to instigate communal violence during elections should know that they will not succeed even now.”
A member of the protesting groups, Kuldeep Svediya said, “Two of our members were thrashed by members of another community near Inamullah building. The duo could be rescued after police intervention. They were only coming to join our pre-planned march to DM office. We condemn hatred between communities. We demand that the people involved in the violence be identified and face legal action.”
According to reliable sources, some of the protesters were carrying flags and reaching Parade Ground for the protest rally when some members of the other community had an argument with them near Inamullah building. The argument escalated to violence but the police intervened and prevented the situation from worsening. For some time the situation was tense but the police dispersed the crowds from both the communities.