Days after Muslims in the Kandhla area of Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh clashed with the police over alleged assault of Tablighi Jamaat workers, the saffron minds on social media and local Whatsapp groups were abuzz with messages claiming a Muslim conspiracy to perform “another Godhra” in Shamli.
An angry crowd from Kandhla, a Muslim majority town, blocked the rail track on Saturday protesting against the alleged ill-treatment of a few Tablighi Jamaat volunteers on a local train near Badaut, in Baghpat.
Sixteen policemen and about 20 members of Tablighi Jamaat community were injured when a protest by members of a particular community at Kandhla district turned violent following which a case has been registered naming, among others, a former nagar panchayat chairman.
According to police, members of the Tablighi Jamaat were protesting against the incident in which five members of their community were thrashed on Friday by some youths on board a Delhi-Kandhla train.
The Kandhla protest today saw an irate crowd gherao the police station and pelt stones besides setting some vehicles on fire, said SP Vijay Bhushan. To disperse the violent protesters, police fired the teargas shells and also resorted to a baton charge, police added.
In the wake of the incident, a case has been registered against 1,000 people. Among five people named in it is former nagar panchayat chairman Haji Islam, said Bhushan. Police’s baton charge left one person injured.
Bhushan added that security has been tightened and extra police force deployed in the town following the incident.
Meanwhile, RPF said they have filed a case in this connection.