Lucknow, April 1
In the run-up to the first phase of polling widespread violence erupted in Lucknow, Kanpur, Sultanpur and Basti districts killing at least one youth and injuring dozens of people, including senior police officials, said official
sources.
Religious row behind clashes in Kanpur, Lucknow
Prisoners’ riot in Basti district
Cops injured at many places
Curfew in Lucknow
Magisterial inquiry ordered into Kanpur violence
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A “preventive curfew” was imposed in three police station areas of Lucknow, principal secretary (home) K Chandramauli said.
According to official figures only nine persons were injured in Lucknow. Sources maintained that one person, who had received a bullet injury in his neck, had later succumbed to his injuries in the capital, while eight had been admitted to various city hospitals with varying degrees of injury.
Speaking to TNS, Chandramauli did not corroborate the death in Lucknow though he admitted that one person had been killed during stone pelting and firing in Kanpur early this morning. In Kanpur an angry crowd attacked a police station and indulged in stone pelting and firing for well over an hour.
While the dead youth in Kanpur was a part of the attacking crowd, the police and district officials, too, did not remain unharmed. Among the officials gravely injured in Kanpur were the ADM (city), two deputy SPs, one additional SP and dozen odd constables, said DIG Kanpur Daljit Singh Chaudhury.
A magisterial enquiry has been ordered into the incident and the SO of the Armapur police station has been suspended.
Trouble in Kanpur started when the police picked up some youths from Mushariganj locality for violating Section 144 and using loudspeakers for a local celebration to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammad. The young men were reportedly kept at the police station for the entire night despite local citizens requesting for their release.
By morning the restless crowd staged a sit-in at the Armapur police station under which the locality falls. Immediately after the sit-in a confrontation between the public and police occurred and heavy stone pelting and firing started, which lasted for a full hour injuring many senior officials and killing the youth, according to DIG Kanpur.
A senior official, speaking off the record, said that Satish Nigam, SP candidate from the area, had led the mob that came to stage a sit-in at the police station this morning.
In old Lucknow the traditional hot spot for Shia-Sunni clashes, fresh violence erupted this morning when Sunnis were taking out the ‘barawafat’ procession from Shia-dominated areas.
Both sides are accusing each other for provoking the violence.
Heavy stone pelting was reported from Thakurganj, Sajjad colony and the labyrinth-like bylanes of the residential localities near the historical imambaras of the old city. The police had to fire in the air and use tear gas to disperse agitated mobs of both the groups. Chandramauli claimed that the situation had been “sorted out” and the traditional ‘barawafat’ procession finally reached the Aishbagh Eidgah under heavy security. A partial curfew was imposed in Saadatganj, Chowk and Thakurganj police station areas as a precautionary measure.
Principal secretary (home) claimed to have no information about the trouble in Basti jail and Sultanpur highway, where irate crowds demanding action today had blocked the National Highway for several hours.
Basti district magistrate Saruabh Babu said that the inspection in the district jail, as part of the election preparations, had angered the prisoners, who suddenly started rioting inside the prison today.
The incident occurred around afternoon when the prisoners came out from their barracks during lunchtime and went berserk throwing stones at the jail officials.
At Sultanpur due to the rape of a girl of one community by a man of another community, people from the girl’s community blocked the national highway between Musafirpur and Sultanpur for many hours raising slogans against the police for their inaction.
