Image Courtesy:theindiaprint.com
Madhya Pradesh Police detained 24 people at Chandan Khedi village where clashes erupted after Hindutva groups shouted slogans in front of a mosque. According to news reports, around 200 people gathered and chanted the Hanuman Chalisa and shouted “Jai Shri Ram” slogans outside the mosque even as prayers were being offered inside. A heated exchange between Hindus and Muslims followed, and soon led to stone pelting, the police are reported to have said. According to news and social media reports, some members of the Hindutva group also waved saffron flags and climbed the mosque and tried to damage the minaret.
This happened in Chandankhedi, Indore, MP.
A Mosque was vandalized by a Hindutva mob, mob is shouting “Jai Sri Ram” slogans.
Via : @Scribbly_Scribe pic.twitter.com/tXjs9Fwfgk
— Md Asif Khan (@imMAK02) December 29, 2020
Others have alleged that the Hindutva group members also tried to damage nearby houses and vehicles. Yogesh Deshmukh, Inspector General of Police, Indore, told Indian Express, “Twenty-four people, mostly from the village, have been rounded up based on video evidence. There will be more arrests on both sides and people who climbed atop the mosque will be identified and booked under relevant sections.”
According to the IE report, the latest clash at the Muslim-dominated village in Indore district took place when members of right-wing Hindu groups, took out a procession to collect “donations for construction of Ram Temple”, and then stopped in front of a mosque and chanted slogans on Tuesday. It was reported that police were trying to bring the situation under control till late at night.
As reported by the Indian Express, this unrest has happened just three days after similar clashes erupted in Ujjain’s Muslim-dominated Begum Bagh neighbourhood. There too a rally was taken out by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha that chanted slogans, which reportedly led to stone pelting.
The IE reported that in response to media’s questions on a demolition drive being carried out in Ujjain at the home of a Muslim resident, who was allegedly caught on camera pelting stones during the clashes, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Tuesday, “Jahan se pathar aaenge, wahin se toh nikale jaaenge (The direction from where the stones come, that decides the eviction).”
Meanwhile, police have booked eight more people, taking the total number of arrests in the Ujjain stone-pelting case to 15 so far. Five of them have been booked under National Security Act and 10 others have been booked for attempt to murder and rioting. According to news reports all the 15 arrested are residents of Begum Bagh. According to Superintendent of Police Satyendra Kumar Shukla said three or four people were seen pelting stones and they are in the process of being identified. “The house that was demolished by the revenue department was of an individual who had resorted to stone pelting,” he confirmed.
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