A Muslim mob launched a vicious attack on Jaipur police and set fire to a power house and 5 vehicles, including an ambulance, around 8 PM yesterday night in Jaipur’s old city area of Ramganj. Police had to resort to tear gas, rubber bullets and air firing to control the situation. 1 person died, while at least 15 – including 5 policemen – were injured, some of them critically.

Presently, there is heavy police deployment and curfew in 4 police station areas of Jaipur city – Ramganj, Manak Chowk, Galta Gate, Subhash Chowk. Schools have closed in these areas today, and mobile internet has been discontinued.

The violence erupted after a minor dispute. Police was trying to clear illegally parked vehicles and handcarts blocking traffic in Ramganj, when a constable waving his stick at an e-rickshaw accidentally hit a bike on which a Muslim family of 3 (husband, wife, daughter) was travelling. The bike fell down and the family suffered minor injuries. The dispute then reached Ramganj police station (PS).

Within an hour, a huge mob gathered outside the PS and started chanting slogans.  Soon, the mob turned violent and started pelting stones at the PS – they even attempted to storm inside. Vehicles parked in front of the PS were burnt, and a nearby power house was torched.

Hindi daily Bhaskar’s photojournalist Anil Sharm was beaten up by the mob, and they also seized his camera. One rioter has died – Mohammed Raees.

Such attacks on police are part of a trend which can be observed across the Bharat – with similar instances having occurred in UP, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal etc.

In Panchkula, when some anti-social Dera followers were targeting public property and media vans, police shot dead 30, including some innocents, in a matter of 2 hours to completely quell the protests. No human rights group or left-liberal questioned the Government action.

But in Jaipur, when the mob was explicitly trying to lynch police and even tried to storm the police station, police exercised high-level of restraint and 1 rioter died while 5 policemen were grievously injured.

This raises the question – is our law & order machinery now conditioned to use kid gloves while dealing with Muslim mob violence? This is another aspect of the skewed Indian version of secularism, which has elevated ‘minorities’ to a privileged status – and given them a free pass to run riot as and when they please.

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