22-year-old Vishnu Yadav was killed and another person, Bittu Kumar, was injured in firing by Muslims from Jafarganj locality of Jehanabad, Bihar. This was the second day of violence, rioting and arson in the city where tensions started after stone pelting by members of the ‘minority’ community on a Durga Puja visarjan procession late on Wednesday night.
District Magistrate Naveen Kumar confirmed death of Vishnu Yadav and wounds received by three others in the latest violence on Friday morning. The DM said that 12 residents of Jafarganj have been arrested and a number of swords have been recovered from their houses.
“After opening fire, the attackers hurled stones at security personnel who rushed to the spot. One Rapid Action Force commando and a local resident were injured in the incident. They are being treated at a hospital,” he added.
There was an eerie silence in the whole town on Friday, with almost all shops and establishments closed. Administration has imposed Section 144 and restricted internet services. Violence has been reported from several parts of the city like Panchmahala, Pyari Mohalla, Ambedkar Nagar, Soiya Ghat etc.
The heavy stone pelting on the Durga Puja procession on Wednesday night destroyed the murti and left 14 people injured. On Thursday, the rioting quickly spread – many shops were burnt & looted and vehicles destroyed.
Dainik Jagran reports that another youth, Mithun Kumar has been critically injured in firing that took place near Soiya Ghat. In their report filed late evening yesterday, Dainik Bhaskar has reported two deaths in the violence but have not provided any names.
Around 36 people have been arrested by police thus far. There is heavy police deployment and RAF personnel across the city.
Interestingly, English language media across the board has reported the locality where violence erupted as ‘Jakarganj’ whereas Hindi-language outlets have all reported it as ‘Jafarganj’ which is indeed the correct name that comes up on internet search as well. It is hard to dismiss this as just a typo or sloppy journalism, and appears to be a deliberate ploy to ‘neutralize’ the name of the locality to subtly manipulate the mind of readers.
Jehanabad becomes the third place where Durga Puja processions have been attacked by Islamist radicals this year, after Malpura in Tonk, Rajasthan and Balrampur, UP.
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