At least four Muslim villagers were killed, three of them burned to death, when their thatched huts were set on fire during a clash between Hindu and Muslim groups in eastern India, a government official said.
Police had arrested 14 people Monday on charges of arson and murder, said Ranjit K. Mishra, a local superintendent of police.
Security has been tightened in and around Sarayian village in Bihar state with some 500 police officers assigned to the area.
Atul Prasad, a Bihar state administrator, said the violence erupted Sunday after the body of a young Hindu boy was found in Sarayian more than a week after he went missing.
Prasad said Hindu fishermen blamed Muslims for killing the boy who was friendly with a Muslim girl from the village, 105 kilometers (65 miles) north of Patna, the capital of Bihar.
Following the discovery of the body of 19-year-old Bhartendu Kumar on Saturday in the village of Saraiya, 102 kilometers (64 miles) from the state capital Patna, after he disappeared days earlier.
A mob armed with sticks and other sharp weapons attacked the house of one of the people suspected by Kumar’s family of kidnapping and murdering him, police said.
Rioters set his house on fire, killing three residents, thought to belong to the Muslim community and injuring two others.
Police said 10 adjoining houses were also gutted and 15 vehicles damaged in the violence, which lasted for four hours on Sunday morning.
Couples from different religions in India are often targeted by their families and community members for supposedly bringing “dishonor,” sometimes resulting in confrontations and even deadly violence and full-scale riots.
Critics say Hindu hard-line groups have become more emboldened since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party stormed to power at elections in May.
Hindus make up more than 80 per cent and Muslims nearly 13 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion people. They largely live peacefully in various parts of the country, but there is occasional violence.
Last year, around 50 people died in clashes between Hindus and Muslim in Muzaffarnagar town in neighboring Uttar Pradesh state.
With input of PTI