With no untoward incident being reported after a communal flare up in lakhimpur Kheri on Thursday evening, tension has spread to neighboring Sitapur district when a youth outfit of a political party tried to forcibly close the market on Friday.
ADG (law and order) Daljeet Chowdhary, who dispatched IG lucknow Zone A Satish Ganesh and DIG lucknow Range, Praveen Kumar to the strife-tormn district, said that beside local police, an additional company of PAC has been dispatched from Sitapur to ensure peace.
Chauhdary claimed that two prime accused, who uploaded objectionable posts on social media alongwith half a dozen others have been detained for fanning communal passion in Kheri.
Besides beefing up the force, the local administration has also restricted internet services in the area to stop provocative messages being splashed on social media.
On Wednesday, two youths of a particular community uploaded some objectionable videos on social sites triggering resentment among the members of majority community. The matter was immediately brought to the knowledge of local police who traced the miscreants and arrested them after registering a case.
However, things turned murky when the youth wing of a party took to the streets and protested the uploading of the video. They tried to forcibly close the market on Thursday evening. In the process, a shop owner of a community had a heated exchange after which the shopowner opened fire injuring two youths from the other community. They were rushed to district hospital and later one of them was referred to Trauma Center in lucknow.
The news of gun fire spread and people ransacked the market and torched some shops. Assessing the gravity, DM Akashdeep and SP Kheri, Manoj Kumar Jha imposed curfew in the city late on Thursday night.
“To maintain peace and law and order, curfew restrictions in the city area have been imposed and people have been asked to stay home,” Akashdeep told reporters on Friday morning. Stressing that the situation was under control, the DM appealed the citizens not to spread rumours. The DM and SP also visited the city and asked people to keep calm.
To protest the incident, the youth outfit carried out a violent demoinstration in Kheri on Thursday and forcibly got the market closed in adjoining Sitapur district too. However, no clash was reported.
Meanwhile communal tension also prevailed in Balrampur after a minor girl was allegedly torched alive by members of another community. The victim’s body was sent for autopsy and security has been tightened to avert clashes. All three miscreants, accused by the victim were arrested in the wee hours of Friday. The 16-year-old girl went to see Nautanki in Nagai hamlet on Thursday night. The matter took an ugly turn when the girl’s brother spotted her with a youth from another community which resulted in a heated exchange.
later the girl rushed back home and after some time, she was found lying unconscious with more than 70 percent burn. While villagers claimed that the girl tried to torch herself after being spotted by her brother, the girl in her dying declaration at District Hospital accused three persons from the other community for setting her afire. She died some hours later. The harried cops arrested the trio early Friday morning. A case was registered and frther investigations are on.