Communal violence that erupted in lakhimpur Kheri on Thursday, has now spread to Moradabad where members of two communities exchanged fire in which five of a particular community were seriously injured. They were admitted in hospital and heavy police force has been deployed to maintain peace.
As per the reports, a youth belonging to a minority community in Sheelpur hamlet of Kundaraki area went to a betel shop to purchase ‘bidi’ on Saturday morning. Some locals of another community abused and cursed him for not voting for a particular party. When the youth objected, the locals roughed him.
The matter took an ugly turn when some other residents rushed to the youth’s rescue. After a scuffle, the local residents opened fire in which the youth and his sympathisers were critically injured.
The local police led by Circle Officer Chakra Mani Tripathi, rushed to the spot and chased away the trouble makers and shifted the injured to a hospital. The police has detained three youths who opened fire but no case was registered till late on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile in lakhimpur Kheri on Saturday, curfew was relaxed for 12 hours as no fresh incidents of violence was reported. However, educational institutions remained closed as as precautionary measure.
“Curfew has been relaxed from 6 am to 6 pm on Saturday. Banks and offices will be allowed to open. However, schools and colleges will remain closed. Security arrangements will be in place to avert any exigency. The situation would be reviewed and appropriate decision would be taken,” District Magistrate Akashdeep told reporters on Saturday.
There were reports from some areas of burning of makeshift shops by miscreants. Adminsitrative officials held a peace committee meeting and took out a peace march in which people from different communities participated on Saturday.
Shops and markets are open and normal activity was witnessed on roads under the gaze of heavy police deployment. Mobile police vans have been deployed at all crossings and sensitive localities.
IG (lucknow Zone) A Satish Ganesh and DIG Pravin Kumar are camping in the city. The twin cities of Kheri and lakhimpur were gripped by tension after a video hurting religious sentiments went viral on the social media. Two students who circulated the objectionable clip were later arrested and sent to judicial custody by the court.
Despite prompt action by the police, protests started on the streets and markets were closed in panic. Curfew was imposed on Thursday night and was relaxed for three hours on Friday.