Batala (Punjab), February 21: A few shops were vandalised today during one-hour relaxation of curfew in the town, which witnessed violence over publication of a picture of Jesus Christ in an allegedly objectionable manner, even as authorities termed the situation as tense but under control.
The curfew was relaxed from 6 PM to 7 PM to facilitate people buy essential commodities as a mob vandalised a number of shops and forced shopkeepers to roll down shutters at Tibber village, official sources said.
“The situation is under control,” IG (border range) Preet Singh Sahota said, adding as many as 2,000 police personnel have been deployed in the district.
Around 12 people, including a journalist of a Punjabi daily, were rounded up on the charge of violating the curfew order, police said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal appealed people to maintain peace and harmony.
–Agencies