Mischief at mosques sparks protests in Bangalore

Mischief at mosques sparks protests in Bangalore
Saturday July 12 2008 03:18 IST

Express News Service

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BANGALORE: Violence broke out in two separate areas of the city when miscreants placed severed pig’s heads inside the compounds of two mosques in Jaya Chamarajendra (JC) Nagar and Hebbal on Friday.

Four police personnel including a Central Armed Reserve Police Inspector, Dayanand, and a police constable of Regulated Market Committee (RMC) Yard police station, Venkatarama T, sustained injuries while on duty trying to bring the situation under control.

Police resorted to lathi-charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse violent mobs who went on a rampage, shouting slogans and damaging buses and lorries.

The new Police Commissioner, Shankar Bidari, who began his tenure with the riot on his very first day in office, ordered the imposition of prohibitory orders till July 13. The situation was brought under control by the evening, said M R Pujar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order).

The police clarified that there were no inter-communal clashes; the violence was purely a reaction, protesting the desecration of the two mosques; the pig is considered “haraam” according to the tenets of Islam.

Mohammed Ali, manager of a hostel at J C Nagar, was at the Jamia Masjid at 5 am when the pig’s head was being taken away by the police.

“The pig’s head was found at the washing area near the entrance of the mosque, sometime after the gates of the mosque were opened at 4 am,” he said. Around 15 people had gathered at the mosque at the time, and the incident delayed the prayer by 30 minutes.

The JC Nagar police were alerted. A mob went to the J C Nagar police station and staged a dharna, demanding that the miscreants be arrested and punished.

DCP (North) Sayed Ulfat Hussain and other senior officials rushed to the spot and assured the restive crowd that proper police action would be initiated to bring the culprits to book. The situation worsened when more members of the community learnt of the morning incident at the noon prayers.

A large group staged a rasta-roko on Munireddypalya road and J C Road junction. Some miscreants started pelting stones at a BMTC bus (Volvo) which was enroute to the new international airport at Devanahalli; a lorry was also attacked.

Tyres of vehicles were set ablaze on the road to prevent the movement of traffic. A slogan-shouting mob gheraoed the J C Nagar police station and started pelting stones at the police personnel trapped inside, along with media photographers.

To bring the situation under control, police lathi-charged the mob to disperse them and later fired three rounds of tear gas shells. The mob then went around the roads in J C Nagar police limits and pelted stones on buildings and shops.

Meanwhile in a replay of the morning’s incident, another pig’s head was found inside a Hebbal mosque, which led to tensions there, said Pujar. Some protestors staged a dharna near the Hebbal flyover, which obstructed traffic on the arterial roads.

Five platoons of reserved police forces have been deployed in the J C Nagar area and one DCP is exclusively looking after the law and order situation. Also, additional police forces have been posted in sensitive areas in the city, said Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari.

A Peace Committee meeting was held under the leadership of Wakf Minister Dr Mumtaz Ali Khan, attended by about 50 citizens of the area.