Headlines
Communal tension in Agra, situation calm now
Agra, Sep 4
Tension prevailed in Uttar
Pradesh's Agra district on Friday after some religious comments on
social media led to violence between two communities. The situation was
calm now, police said.
Police said a Facebook group had posted
some material described as biased and highly provocative by members of
another community. The Facebook group coordinator was roughed up on
Thursday by those objecting to the posted material, leading to a clash
in Shamshabad town, 30 km from here.
Police then resorted to
lathicharge and fired rubber bullets to disperse the clashing mob. More
than a dozen people, including three policemen, were injured.
Additional
forces had been rushed to beef up security in the town and prevent
trouble spilling over in the rural areas, as reports suggested that
tempers were rising high and communal elements had begun mobilising the
villagers for a showdown.
Inspector General of Police, Agra zone,
D.C. Mishra, the deputy inspector general, district magistrate and
other senior officials spent several hours on Saturday to diffuse
tension and work for restoring normalcy at the earliest.
Senior
Superintendent of Police Rajest D. Modak appealed on FM radio to people
not to pay heed to rumours and maintain peace at all costs.
Meanwhile,
Fatehpur Sikri MP Choudhary Babu Lal of the Bharatiya Janata Party was
prevented from entering troubled Shamshabad town.
A flag march
was organised on Saturday afternoon and several companies of Rapid
Action Force and the state police's Provincial Armed Constabulary were
deployed.