With situation still tense in Shamli and adjoining areas, no further move has been made by the local authorities to take action against the culprits. They already registered a case against ruling Samajwadi Party MlA Nahid Hasan besides two thousand others in connection with damaged to rail property and disrupting services during a violent protest at Kandhla railway station on last Saturday. The protest was against the alleged assault on five members of the Tablighi Jamaat by some youths on board a Delhi-Kandhla train on last Friday night. The mob had also laid a siege to a police station, pelted stones and set afire vehicles in which over a dozen policemen were also injured.
Assistant Commissioner of Railway Protection Force (RPF), P K Pandey, told the reporters in Muzaffarnagar on Mondaythat two thousand people have been booked under Section 174 of Railway Act for the violence, while 12 persons have been named including SP legislator Nahid Hasan and chairman of Kandhla nagar panchayat Haji Balu Hasan. He said the protesters had turned violent, disrupting train services and damaging railway property at Kandhla railway station.
Reports further said that in wake of the clash taking communal colour, security has been tightened on the trains passing through the Western UP towns, which included Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur. Inspector General of Government Railway Police (GRP), Dawa Sherpa disclosed that police and RPF personnel in plain clothes have been deployed following the incident. Meanwhile, a delegation of Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind met senior railway officials and sought adequate security on trains on the route and immediate arrest of culprits in the assault case. He was assured that the accused will be arrested soon. The incidents had triggered tension in Shamli and Muzaffarnagar districts along with surrounding districts.
Meanwhile, former chairman of the Minority Cell of the State Congress Committee, Maroof Khan, condemned the attack on members of religious group going to Maharastra by train. Demanding stern action against the culprits including Samajwadi Party, MlA, in the said case, Khan alleged that after polarising the vote bank on communal line during last Parliament elections, now both Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janta Party were doing same to make political gain during nest Assembly elections in the State.