Four police personnel were injured on Sunday in mob violence in Gujarat’s Borsad town after the police tried to stop illegal construction on local municipality land adjacent to a dargah (Muslim shrine). Later, rumours started doing the rounds that minority community members were ‘cornered.
Ahmedabad Range Inspector General V. Chandrasekhar told IANS: “Rumours were making rounds that a group of minority community in Borsad were cornered, because of which large group of the community took to the streets and started pelting stones on police and police vehicles.”
In an effort to disperse the mob, police hurled tear gas cells, following which the situation was brought under control. As many as 50 teargas canisters and 30 rubber bullets had to be fired by the police. 14 people have been arrested thus far for the violence.
Meanwhile, two companies of the State Reserve Police Force and 200 police personnel led by District Superintendent of Police Ajit Raijan have been deployed in Borsad. Police have picked up a few persons and their role in the violence is being verified, Chandrasekhar told IANS.
One of the injured policemen, identified as police constable Vijaysinh, was stabbed with four times and is in serious condition at the Vadodara government hospital. The remaining three suffered injuries during stone pelting, sources from the Borsad police station said.
According to Dipak Patel, BJP Borsad committee president, the violence broke out after the police tried to stop illegal construction on local municipality land behind a Hanuman temple. Behind the temple, there is an open space owned by the municipality, and adjacent to it is a dargah. Patel said that the minority community group had started construction on the municipality land, which was brought to the notice of the authorities. When the police asked them to stop, the group attacked the police, he added.
The attack on then turned into a group clash between two communities and also spread to other areas like Bradhmawada, Gandhi Pol, Chokshi Pol, and two other places, Patel said, adding that six persons, three from each side, were injured.
(With IANS inputs)
