The immersion procession which marks the conclusion of Saraswati Puja festival was attacked/marred with violence in various regions of Bihar like Gopalganj, Patna, Saharsa, Samastipur and Nalanda. As with past years, the auspicious Hindu festival was attacked in Jharkhand too. At least two youth – Ankit Kumar and Dheeraj Kumar – have been killed and several others, including policemen, injured in different violent incidents across the two states, with most related to Saraswati Puja processions.

In Jharkhand, Hindu devotees and police came under attack on Friday night after residents of Muslim tola pelted stones at a Saraswati Puja procession in Dokidih village of Narayanpur police station area, Jamtara district. The Hindu procession was passing along a pre-decided route, when suddenly stones began to be pelted from roofs of Muslim houses and a large number of Islamists from neighboring areas also gathered in what locals says was a well-planned attack. Some Islamists even entered Hindu homes and assaulted women and children too, locals stated as per a Dainik Jagran report.

The heavy stone pelting left 4 policemen, including Inspector Manoj Kumar, seriously injured and they had to be referred to Dhanbad. Police had to fire around 15 rounds in the air to quell the rioters. Yet, when the murti visarjan was later being completed with police protection, the spread out Islamist mob continued to create a racket to oppose the immersion. Heavy police presence has now been established in the village.

“We are identifying who is behind this pre-planned violence. Whoever disturbed the social harmony will not be spared”, said Jamtara SP Manoj Swargiary. “Some anti-social elements are behind this, this will be apprehended soon”, was the stereotypical sound-byte given by Jamtara DC Faiz Ahmed Mumtaz, who himself was at the centre of a controversy for allegedly refusing to salute the national flag during singing of national anthem at a Republic Day celebration last year.

In Basdila village of Bihar’s Gopalganj district, the home constituency of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, a Hindu youth Ankit Kumar was stabbed to death and another youth Hariom was critically wounded in an attack led by Mohammed Shahadat and Mohammad Sonu Miyan.

While media outlets like TV9 Hindi have stated (archived here) that the Hindu youths were stabbed on Friday over a dispute related to Saraswati Puja, Bihar Police claimed that the dispute was ‘over playing cricket’ and that 7 people have been arrested out of 15 named accused. After tensions broke out in the area over Ankit’s death, police had to resort to firing to control the situation, which the police now describe as ‘totally normal’.

As per a Dainik Bhaskar report, Ankit was murdered in the Basdila market area over a cricket-related dispute. The next day, his family members and other villagers from Pasarma village held a protest to demand arrest of his murderers, but police unleashed a lathi charge on them. This angered the villagers even more and additional police force had to be rushed and police had to resort to aerial firing. Now, police is not allowing any outsider to enter the village, indicating that the situation is far from normal.

In Bahuarwa village of Saharsa district, Bihar, clashes between ‘two groups’ (media’s secularised terminology usually deployed to mask Islamist involvement), Arvind Yadav (40) suffered a bullet wound to the stomach, while Sanoj Kumar was injured with a lathi. In Samastipur district of Bihar too, clashes were reported from two different areas in which 6 people, including women, were injured.

As per reports, a firing incident also took place during the Maa Saraswati murti immersion procession near Gandhi Maidan in Patna, where a young student Dheeraj Kumar died of a bullet injury and several others were injured. The incident took place after a stampede broke out between gate number four and five of Gandhi Maidan during the immersion.

A procession was being taken out on Friday evening to immerse the statue of Maa Saraswati installed in various hostels of Patna University. The procession being taken out by the most popular Saidpur Hostel reached Gandhi Maidan via Nala Road. During this, there was a stampede between gate number four and five of Gandhi Maidan despite police arrangements, and a student in a yellow kurta fired a few shots, which led to the death of student Dheeraj Kumar, a resident of Shakurabad in the Jehanabad district.

After the incident, a team of police reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem examination. The police later said they had scoured through CCTV footage and identified the man responsible for firing in the crowd. The accused will soon be arrested, said a Patna SSP Manavjit Singh Dhillon. He did not reveal the name of the shooter.

Every year, Hindu festival processions come under attack from Islamists and other anti-social elements across the country.

Update

21:45, Jan 29

Violence in Gopalganj district, which claimed the life of Ankit Kumar, has been added in this report. As per at least one media report, Ankit was stabbed after a dispute over Saraswati Puja although police say it was over ‘playing cricket’. Additional details have been provided about some of the other violent incidents, especially the stone pelting on the Hindu procession in Jamtara, as well.