Bhoomi Adhikaar Andolan challenged this brazen attempt at violating not only the constitutional spirit but also the democracy itself and resolved to launch a nation wide strike and struggle against this. BAA leaders collectively said that this attack is not only against Muslims but against farmers and workers as well. Cows and cattle’s have an intrinsic link to the agrarian economy and in our country farmers and workers are from all religions.

The BJP government in the name of cow and river protection is only promoting the corporate agenda and taking away all the rights and livelihoods form the working classes of this country. BAA is going to challenge each and every move and every attempt at diversion of the common property resources and village land for industrial purposes. BAA also supported the demands of the agitating farmers from Tamilandu who have been camping at Jantar Mantar for 36 days now. Comrade Hannan Mollah General Secretary of All India Kisan Sabha said, “the intentions of this government are clear and we should not be fooled by their agenda and the diversionary tactics they use. We have to fight the communal terror and also the corporate onslaught on farmers and workers of this country”.   

The protest was addressed by Krishna Prasad, N K Shukla, Amra ram, Badal Saroj, and other leaders of All India Kisan Sabha; Dr Sunilam and Madhuresh of National Alliance of People’s Movements; Ashok Choudhary and Roma, All India Union of Forest Working People; Com Satyavan of All India Krishak Khet Mazdoor Sangathan; Com Prem Singh and Aslam Khan of All India KISAN Maha sabha; Com Atul Anjan All India Kisan Sabha (Ajay Bhawan); Kavita Srivastava, People's Union of Civil Liberties; Com Thirunavukkarasu, President, AIAWU; Com Suneet Chopra (ABKMU); Anil Choudhary and Virendra Vidrohi of INSAF and others. The dharna was also adressed by Com Brinda Karat, Subhashini Ali, Polit bureau Members, CPI(M); D.Raja, National Secretary, CPI; Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, CPI(ML); K.C.Tyagi, former MP and leader, JD(U); D.P.Tripathi, NCP leader and MP. In addition, representatives from different Left and Democratic Parties as well as Organisations of Peasantry, Agricultural Workers, Workers, Women's, Students, Youth Dalit and Adivasis, Trade Unions, people's movements were present in solidarity.

The dharna was attended by a number of farmers and civil rights organisations from Haryana and Punjab who extended solidarity and also launched their own agitation in the States demanding justice. They resoled to continue their fight until justice for the victims of the Alwar is achieved and also to stop any further terror in the name of the cow protection.

Earlier, AIKS President Amra Ram had sat on a Dharna on 18th April demanding justice for the dairy farmer's family. Hundreds of peasants from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan attended the Dharna. The family members of Pehlu Khan and other victims as well as villagers from Nuh attended the Dharna.

The Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan demanded the following :

1. Rs.1 crore compensation for Pehlu Khan's family and job for a family member, arrest of perpetrators of the crime, Government purchase of unproductive cows at market rate and protection of right to cattle trade as well as right to choice of food.
2. The Vasundhara Raje Government of Rajasthan must provide Rs. One Crore as compensation to the bereaved family of Pehlu Khan and Rs.25 lakhs each to the other victims, taking the responsibility of the incident and to ensure civil and democratic rights and to give a strong message to the anti national elements which are trying to disrupt communal harmony.
3. The Manohar Lal Khattar government of Haryana must ensure Immediate and free medical treatment to all the victims.
4. The state Government must provide government job to one family member of Pehlu Khan.
5. Immediate arrest of all culprits and ensure stringent punishment.  Withdraw false cases against victims. 
6. A special investigation team under direct supervision of Supreme Court must be assigned to ensure impartial investigation to the crime and role of the police
7. A high level enquiry under the supervision of the Supreme Court to unearth the conspiracy of RSS to create communal unrest on the issue of cow slaughter.   
8. Ensure farmers right to cattle trade and reopen all cattle markets immediately which had been closed down by the concerned state governments. 
9. Make provisions in the cattle protection law to obligate state governments to purchase unproductive cattle providing market rate to farmers. 
10. Protect the crops from stray cattle’s by incorporating clauses in the law to obligate state Governments to preserve all stray cattle in shelters ensuring  sufficient fodder, water and veterinary care
11. The Union Ministry of Agriculture shall call a meeting of all the peasant and agriculture worker organizations to discuss protection of the rights of farmers on cattle wealth.

Krishna Prasad, Madhuresh Kumar, Shweta Tripathi, Sanjeev Kumar
For Bhumi Adhikaar Andolan
 
Related Articles:

1. What I learnt in Pehlu Khan’s village: Not Muslims, starvation is killing cows and bullocks

The post No Terrorism in the Name of Cow Protection: Call for Nationwide Protest on Lynchings & Violence appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Kanhaiya Kumar made his first public speech in Mumbai. Almost a full hour. Gripping and Sensitive

Amidst a Galaxy of Other Student Leaders and Speakers: Justice Kolse Patil, Teesta Setalvad, Anand Patwardhan, .Irfan Engineer
Kanhaiya Kumar, Richa Singh, Shehla Rashid, Ajayan Adat, Zuhail K P

Threats and Rumours from the Hindutva brigade attempted a disruption of the programme as no colleges wanted to "allow" Kanhaiya their space for his speech. Finally after last minute dramas, the Adarsh Vidyalaya at Tilaknagar east, Chembur were hosts for this historic occasion

While talking about the various issues facing the nation, he also said, "I have great respect for our PM….but….
Video Recording By Satyen K. Bordoloi

".

Text of the Pamphlet
Friends,
Institutional murder of Rohith Vemula and cold-blooded killings of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar,  Comrade Govind Pansare, Professor M.M.Kalburgi,  Mohsin Sheikh of Pune, Mohammad Akhlaq of Dadri, Mohammad Majloom of Jharkhand along with a twelve year old boy Inayatullah Khan – all these crimes are perpetrated by forces who  keep calling themselves as ‘nationalists’!  Murderers masquerading as ‘nationalists’ seem to believe their time has come. But Students and youth of India shall not let them pass!
 
We are the custodians of India’s true nationalism which is derived from the people’s struggle for independence from imperialist Britain and the great rebellions against caste system. The national movement was the quest to create India as a modern republic of equal citizens carrying the legacy of  all those struggles for justice and equality spanning many centuries of our past but also freeing ourselves from cultures of cruelty which had also been very much part of India’s history.  
 
It is a fact that economic development of our nation has been left to the mercy of ‘market forces’. But the very same ‘market forces’ have impoverished our people, denied affordable education and employment opportunities to millions of young Indians but also reinforced the shameful hierarchies and systems of discrimination received from pre-modern times. Progressive student-youth movements are offering stiff resistance to policy of commoditization and jobless growth. But, in the endeavor to build an egalitarian India free from pre-modern regimes of inequality and discrimination, we find the combination of ‘market forces’ and ‘Hindurashtra’ politics as the immediate obstacle.
Obviously, Hindurashtra is an ideology of disenfranchising religious minorities. On a daily basis, some or the other leader of Sangh Parivar , BJP – Shivsena ministers and Saamna paper abuse and threaten citizens of India belonging to minority communities under some or other flimsy pretext. The latest one is about ‘Bharat Mata’. How can a Chief Minister threaten anyone to worship the nation as a goddess or else leave India? Bharat Mata Ki Jai is just one of the many slogans that came up during our freedom struggle. For that matter 'Nara-e-Takbeer Allahu Akbar' was also a slogan which inspired anti-British uprising in India like the Khilafat movement and the historic Malabar rebellion. Bhagat Singh and his comrades gave to India the slogan ‘Inquilab Zinabad’. Will Fadnavis be ready to expel from India all those who refuse to shout ‘Inquilab Zindabad’!
Cultivating prejudices against minorities, trapping ordinary citizens in perennial suspicion and hatred along religious lines – all these are part of SanghParivar political project which is to ensure that the rule of capital and corruption continue unchallenged.
Hindutwa is inimical to reason and scientific temper; it stands for subjugating the downtrodden; it is a vision of perpetuating caste system and institutionalizing discrimination. This ideology seeks to trap women in male-dominant traditions and make them objects of everyday violence and exploitation in multiple forms.
Islamic fundamentalism and communal forces operating amongst other religious minorities are also serious obstacles in the path of building a modern secular India. The work of Hindutwa forces help minority communalists to unleash their divisive propaganda. The reverse is equally true: all the rhetoric and politics of Islamic fundamentalism helps Hindutwa forces to mobilize more support. Both the forms of communalism – majority as well as minority – must be rejected emphatically.
But we must not lose sight of the fact that Hindutwa forces have the backing of big business and also government patronage. That is why they feel emboldened to unleash violence at will, crush the voices of reason, destroy premier educational institutions, disallow open-minded debate in universities, criminalize dissent and physically assault courageous student leaders like Richa Singh and Kanhaiya who dare to speak out against the ruling establishment.
But the forces of darkness are not going to be left unchallenged. The wave of protests created by writers and intellectuals has not yet subsided. The institutional murder of Rohith Vemula galvanized the student community. Every institution that the RSS chose to attack – FTII, AU, HCU, JNU, Jadavpur University, Fergusson College – became sites of heroic resistance.

It is a matter of great pride that students and youth are coming out in a big way to challenge the regimes of discrimination not only in campuses but in the society at large.  Sangh Parivar and its government are using all tricks and terror-tactics against the resistance movement. But they are not going to succeed. They cannot suppress the voices of reason, they cannot kill the fight against discrimination, they cannot take away from us the dream of building a nation of equal citizens.
The gathering on 23rd April is going to be an important milestone in this struggle to defend the dream of a true Republic against a lunatic force that has big capital and state power at its disposal.  We solicit your whole-hearted support in making it a huge success. 
 
Organisers:
SFI   AISF   AISA   PSF  Chhatrabharati  AIRSO   RYA   AIYF   DYFI

 Photo Credit: Not only was the second floor hall of the Adarsh Vidyalay, where Kanhaiya Kumar spoke, packed to capacity, but special arrangements were made to accommodate supporters on the ground floor where a screen was arranged at the last moment. Photograph: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

The post Kanhaiya Kumar in Mumbai: “I Have Great Respect For Our Prime Minister..but…” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Freedom of expression is being throttled in Chhattisgarh as the state cracks down on media and civil society, Amnesty International has stated in a report released in New Delhi today

 
For the last six months, the central Indian state has witnessed a sustained attack on journalists and human rights defenders. Conditions have been created where arbitrary arrests, threats to life, and organized hindrance to the work of journalists, lawyers, and other human rights defenders have led to a near total information blackout. The Entire 24 page report can be read here.
 
Local journalists investigating excesses by security forces have been arrested on trumped-up charges and tortured, while their lawyers have been threatened.  Abusive security laws have been deployed. And increasingly, Chhattisgarh is playing to a script of the bizarre.
 
Violations by the state have been accompanied by intimidation by those acting on its behalf. Local self-styled vigilante groups called the Samajik Ekta Manch (Social Unity Forum) and Mahila Ekta Manch (Women’s Unity Form), which appear to have the backing of the state police, have intimidated and harassed journalists and activists who express dissenting views. Among the members of these groups are people who were part of the banned Salwa Judum civil militia.
 
Most of these incidents have taken place in and around the Bastar region of the state, the epicenter of the long-drawn conflict between state forces and armed Maoist groups. Bastar has witnessed violence and counter-violence leading to massive human rights violations. Adivasi communities in particular have faced abuses from all sides. Against this backdrop, the silencing of civil society and the media may both enable and hide more abuses.

Aakar Patel, Executive Director, Amnesty International India, Bela Bhatia, Bastar-based independent researcher and activist,  Kamal Shukla, Editor, Bhumkal Samachar and Isha Khandelwal, lawyer, Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group addressed the press conference.

Extracts from the Amnesty Report:

Former Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience and Adivasi activists, Soni Sori and her nephew Lingaram Kodopi have been raising issues of human rights abuses committed by both security forces and armed Maoist groups in Chhattisgarh for years. Soni Sori, a former schoolteacher, and Lingaram Kodopi, a journalist were arrested by the state police in October and September 2011, respectively, on allegations of acting as couriers for a corporate mining firm, Essar.

The police alleged they delivered Essar’s ‘protection money’ to armed Maoists groups to ensure the firm’s unhindered operations. A politician with the Aam Aadmi Party since 2014, Soni Sori has been acquitted in five cases filed against her, and Kodopi has been acquitted in one of two cases filed against him. Both of them alleged that they were tortured in police custody. On 29 October 2011, a government hospital examined Soni under a court order, and reported that two stones had been inserted in her vagina and one in her rectum, and that she had annular tears in her spine.

On the night of February 20, 2016, Soni Sori was travelling on a motorcycle with a colleague from Jagdalpur to her home in Geedam, Chhattisgarh, when three unidentified men on a motorcycle stopped them and threw a chemical substance on Soni Sori’s face. The activist said that the substance caused an intense burning sensation, temporarily blinding her. She was taken to a hospital in Jagdalpur, and later shifted to a hospital in New Delhi for treatment.

Soni Sori had been trying for weeks to file a complaint against a high-ranking police official in Bastar in a case involving an alleged extrajudicial execution in Mardum. She told Amnesty International India that her attackers on  February 20, had warned her not to continue her efforts.

Following the attack, Chhattisgarh authorities formed a special investigation team comprising state police officials. Soni Sori’s family alleges that the team has repeatedly called in Lingaram Kodopi and Soni Sori’s brother-in-law, Ajay Markam, for questioning, and pressured them to say that they had a role in planning the attack. Ajay Markam was called in for questioning on three occasions and claimed that he was detained for 30 hours in Jagdalpur police station after he was picked up on March 10, 2016. During this time, he says, he was tortured by the police. “I was beaten up and asked to confess to committing the attack on Soni. They hit me with their shoes everywhere on my body while I was lying on the ground,” Ajay Markam told Amnesty International India.

Soni Sori had been trying for weeks to file a complaint against a high-ranking police official in Bastar in a case involving an alleged extrajudicial execution in Mardum. Soni Sori told Amnesty International India that her attackers on February 20 had warned her not to continue her efforts.

A Timeline of Darkness

July 16, 2015
Journalist SOMARU NAG is arrested for allegedly being a Maoist sympathiser. He is held for alleged banditry, arson and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
 
September 29, 2015
Journalist SANTOSH YADAV is arrested for allegedly associating with a terrorist organization and supporting and aiding terrorist groups. He is held under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, India’s principal anti-terror legislation, among other laws.
 
November 1, 2015
Adivasi women from Pedagelur village, Bijapur file an FIR alleging rape and sexual assault by members of security forces between 19 and 24 October. The women are assisted by local activists, including researcher BELA BHATIA and lawyers from the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group. 

January 15,  2016
Adivasi women from Kunna village, Sukma file an FIR alleging sexual assault by members of security forces on 12 January. The women are assisted by local activists, including activist Soni Sori.
 
January 18, 2016
Adivasi women from Nendra, Bijapur try to file an FIR alleging rape and sexual assault by members of security forces between 11 and 14 January. The police initially refuse, but later register an FIR on 21 January after local activists hold a press conference.
 
February 8, 2016
Members of the Samajik Ekta Manch demonstrate outside the home of journalist MALINI SUBRAMANIAM in Jagdalpur. They accuse her of being a Maoist agent. Later that night, stones are thrown at her house.
 
February 18, 2016
Journalist MALINI SUBRAMANIAM is forced to leave her home in Jagdalpur after her landlord is pressured by the police to evict her.
 
February 18, 2016
Human rights lawyers SHALINI GERA and ISHA KHANDELWAL of the Jagdalpur Legal Aid group (JagLAG) are forced to leave their home in Jagdalpur after their landlord is pressured by the police to evict them.
 
February 20, 2016
BBC Hindi journalist ALOK PUTUL is forced to abandon an assignment in Bastar after receiving threats. A senior police official had communicated to the journalist that he preferred to spend time with ‘nationalist and patriotic’ journalists.
 
February 20, 2016
Activist SONI SORI is attacked and a chemical substance thrown at her face. Her nephew LINGARAM KODOPI later says that the police tried to pressure him to say that the attack was orchestrated by Soni Sori to gain sympathy. AJAY MARKAM, Soni Sori’s brother-in-law, says he was picked up by the police and tortured.
 
March 16, 2016
SAIBAL JANA, the chief physician at a hospital in Dalli-Rajhara, which he helped set up to treat underprivileged communities, is arrested for allegedly being ‘absconding’ in a criminal case registered in 1992. He is later released on bail.
 
March 21, 2016
Journalist PRABHAT SINGH is picked up by the police, tortured and then arrested under the Information Technology Act for a Whatsapp message making fun of a senior police official.
 
March 26, 2016
Journalist DEEPAK JAISWAL is arrested on a seven-month old complaint filed by a school principal for trespassing, obstructing public servants, and assaulting a public servant.
 
March 26, 2016
Members of the Mahila Ekta Manch demonstrate outside the home of researcher BELA BHATIA. They accuse her of being a Maoist agent, and demand that she leave the state.
 
March 30, 2016
A three-member fact finding committee of the Editors Guild of India concludes that there is a sense of fear among journalists in Bastar and the democratic space for journalism is shrinking.
 

Abuses By Security Forces 

Since 2015, there have been reports of three instances of large-scale sexual violence, physical abuse and looting of villages by security force personnel during search operations in the South Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

 
On  November 1, 2015, three Adivasi women and a teenage girl registered a First Information Report alleging large-scale rape, assault and looting by security force personnel during search operations between 19 and 24 October 2015 in the villages of Pegdapalli, Pedagelur, Gundem, Burgicheru and Chinnagelur in Bijapur district. The women were aided by activists from the group Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression, which included researcher Bela Bhatia.
 
The group quoted one of the survivors as saying: “They began chasing my hens, so I objected. ‘Why are you catching my hens? Do your own work,’ I said. At this, they hit me with a stick, blindfolded me and dragged me to the jungle where they raped me. I heard them say in Gondi they would kill me there itself.” It said that many of the women reported being chased out of their homes by security force personnel and beaten. Over a dozen women later filed statements about the violence. No arrests have been made or charges filed yet.
 
On April 5, 2016, a team from the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes which looked into the allegations said that there was prima facie evidence of mass sexual violence, and the case was not being effectively investigated. The team asked for an impartial investigation, stating that an investigation carried out by the district police would not be fair as they had been involved in the search operations.
 
On January 15, 2016, six Adivasi women registered an FIR against security force personnel for sexual assault during search operations on 12 January in Kunna village and Pedapara in Sukma district. The women – accompanied by activist Soni Sori – reported the violence to a senior official in the district administration on 15 January, but an FIR was only registered later. The women said that security force personnel had stripped and beaten them. One woman said that she was dragged out of her house, and her husband and children taken to a security force camp. When she said that she had a small child, a policeman forcibly squeezed her breast. No arrests have been made or charges filed yet.
 
On January 18, 2016, 16 Adivasi women from Nendra village, including eight rape survivors, traveled to the Bijapur district headquarters to file an FIR against security personnel who allegedly raped more than a dozen women in Nendra during search operations between 11 and 14 January. The police recorded their statements, but refused to register an FIR in the absence of the Superintendent of Police. Isha Khandelwal, the women’s lawyer, said, “The women who were raped were not able to even walk properly. Despite that, they went to file an FIR in the district station, where the police officials refused to file an FIR unless the SP was present.”
 
Shivani Taneja, a member of the group Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression  who accompanied the victims, said, “While taking the statements of the affected women, a woman police official remarked in Gondi, “You are all feeding the naxalites and taking care of them. And now you’re coming here.” There is a bias against them continually because they come from Naxal affected areas.”
 
An FIR was finally lodged on January 21, 2016, after immense pressure from activists and civil society groups.  One of the women’s statements reads: “Two men caught hold of me and dragged me inside my house. They took off my clothes, tore my blouse and pressed my breasts. One policeman raped me and said, ‘We will burn down your houses. If it wasn’t daytime, we would have killed you.’”The personnel allegedly also raped or sexually assaulted other women, threatened and beat up villagers, and stole poultry, food and money. No arrests have been made or charges filed yet.
 

What is Common In All These Cases ? 

–     The allegations against security force personnel include sexual assault against women, physical assault and verbal abuse of villagers and looting of villagers’ homes.
 
–     In all the cases, the police refused to file an FIR at first, and only agreed to do so after a delay. Under Indian law, refusing to file an FIR in a case of sexual violence is a criminal offence.
 
–     All the FIRs were registered against unnamed security personnel. In the case of the Nendra incident, the victims had identified and named police personnel in their statements, but these names were not listed in the FIR.
 
–     No charges have yet been filed in any of these cases. It has been more than six months since the first incident in Bijapur district.
 

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The Telegraph reported as many as four persons were killed and over 500 injured in Hazaribagh on Sunday, as Ram Navami procession clashes again became an excuse to settle scores, fan inter-community passions and go amok on roads, prompting the district administration to impose an indefinite curfew starting from 8pm Friday.

The violence broke out that had begun on Friday broke out, once again, in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand on Sunday during another Ramnavmi procession. Processionists were the playing a banned cassette that contained objectionable and provocative slogans that triggered the violence, veteran civil and political rights activist, Razi Ahmed of the CPI, a resident of Hazaribagh, told Sabrangindia today. “The cassette played by processionists blared slogans like “Mussalmanon Bhag Jao Pakistan with unmentionable and obscene swear words especially for Muslims—some of these do not bear repetition,” he added  added.

Though akhara rally, with flags, spears, swords, maces and sticks started hitting the streets from 10 pm on Saturday through Sunday, skirmishes between akharas took a serious turn around 4am. At a rally at Jadu Babu Chowk, Sonu, the 28-year-old son of prominent BJP leader Deepak Nath Sahay, allegedly stabbed to death Anuj Kumar Sinha (19), a school van owner. Apparently, Sonu stabbed Anuj nine times in the stomach over an altercation, though the cause of his murderous rage is not yet known.

Sonu, his wife and son are absconding from their Lower Bodom Bazam mohalla home. Another victim, Saurabh Kumar alias Prince (14), a Class IX student of DAV and son of BJP Kisan Morcha leader, died instantly when he was stabbed and hit by a sharp object on the head. Prima facie, it appeared that Prince, who had come to see a Ram Navami rally, was attacked as his family in Vishnupur mohalla had an ongoing dispute with neighbours.

In the afternoon of Sunday, the body of one Bhairav Gope (55), a resident of Mohdar, was recovered from the place of an inter-community clash at Lepo Road, but DIG Upendra Kumar said it was due to an inter- akhara clash.

Lepo Road, however, was witness to ugly scenes when members of one community pelted stones at a passing procession of the Rewali Club and the latter retaliated by attacking a nearby mosque, which snowballed into a full-blown fight. According to sources, people in the procession then went on a rampage, gutting 18 shops, seven bikes and five four-wheelers, a mixture machine and a generator.

DIG Upendra Kumar, DC Mukesh Kumar and SP Akhilesh Kumar Jha rushed to the spot and ordered police to resort to lathi charge and disperse the crowds. They also deputed firefighters to douse the flames.

However, DIG Kumar, according to The Telegraph, has steadfastly maintained no one was killed at the Lepo Road violence. Section 144 was imposed at noon on Sunday but changed it to curfew at 8pm

Director General of Police, D.K Pandey spoke at length to Sabrangindia. He said that the deliberate circulation of provocative messages and incendiary slogans on social media and Whats App had led to the administration cutting off internet services which were only restored this morning (Monday). The confusions arose over new smaller processions that were attempting to join the larger Ram Navmi processions, he said. “The Ram Navmi processions take place over several days and they have loudspeakers. Apart from announcements and religious songs (bhajan kirtans)there were some objectionable things said. This and the confusions over the smaller processions caused tensions first at Bokaro but the Hazaribagh problems continued till yesterday. There were scuffles and some homes were arsoned,” he said adding that things were now under control.

“While no visible political leaders were part of this procession, the fact that the MP and Minister, Jayant Sinha had promised to shower the processions with rose petals from a helicopter worked to delayed its passage, through some areas,” Razi Ahmed further explained. Rose petals were indeed showered as the procession wound its way from Kud Revali to Hazaribagh; en route Khilgaon that falls within the limits of the Hazaribgh municipal corporation limits is where the violence broke out.

The abusive slogans led to a violent scuffle between youth of both communities and at spot of the Laxmi Cinema Mandir site, 10-15 shops, belonging to the minority Muslim community were set alight. The CRPF and RAF were deployed some time later, an action that residents felt could have been taken in advance to pre-empt the violence. Sabrangindia has some video clips of the violence which we are  withholding until tensions ease. Sabrangindia has forwarded these to the DGP on his request.

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Curfew was imposed at four places in Bokaro Steel City after a group of youths clashed with a Ram Navami procession.

Ram Navami, which drew a crowd of over a lakh to Ranchi's Main Road, was celebrated peacefully today in the capital, but reports of violence sparked by stone-pelting came in from Bokaro and Hazaribagh in the evening, dampening the festive spirit that had spread cheer across Jharkhand in the last few days.   In the steel city of Bokaro, curfew was clamped at 8.45 pm on Friday, April 15, at four places after police resorted to lathicharge and fired teargas shells to control an angry mob of youths who had allegedly pelted stones on a procession led by Bokaro MLA Viranchi Narain around 6 pm. More than two dozen people were hurt, including Bokaro deputy commissioner R.M. Ray, 10 policemen and three journalists, one of them a photographer with The Telegraph, that newspaper reported.

Barely half an hour later in Hazaribagh, at least six persons were injured in stone pelting when a Ram Navami procession passed through Pandu village, around 60km from the district headquarters. Later, an earthmover was set on fire. Newspapers reported that Hazaribagh SP Akhilesh Kumar Jha reached the village promptly with additional forces. The situation, he said, was now under control. The police were talking to elderly members of all communities to ensure that there was no further flare-up.

Police sources told newspapers that trouble had erupted between two communities in Pandu village during the procession when some people objected to cars being parked along the route. “It was a minor issue which led to an argument and stone pelting. Security forces at the spot managed to control the situation. But some elements targeted houses deep inside the village. As per our information, three houses were set on fire, while a fourth was partially burnt,” said Jharkhand police spokesperson and ADGP (Operations) S N Pradhan.

Curfew was imposed in Bokaro steel city area, Maraphari, Balidih and Sector XII police station areas.
 

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