Lucknow, September 1
An uneasy calm prevailed in Allahabad today where curfew was imposed early this morning in five police station areas following an attack by a mob on the Kareli police station. Ten policemen, including SSP K.S. Pratap Kumar, were injured in the attack.
Close on the heels of communal clashes being averted in Agra, the Allahabad police faced a major challenge late last night when rumours of the desecration of a holy book spread across the old city.
The police faced the wrath of angry mobs that came out on the roads and pelted Kareli police station with stones, charging the police of inaction in arresting the guilty.
As a precautionary measure, district magistrate Ashish Goyal imposed curfew in five police station areas of Kareli, Khuldabad, Shahganj, Kotwali, Atsuiya and parts of Dhoomanganj. All educational institutions also remained closed in the city.
Speaking to The Tribune, home secretary Javeed Ahmad said trouble began late last night in the Kareli police station area when rumours of the desecration of a holy book inside a place of worship spread.
Within no time a large number of angry young men, raising anti-police slogans, gathered outside the police station and demanded action against the guilty.
Despite assurance by the police to bring the guilty to book, the crowd refused to disperse and started hurling stones at the police station, the home secretary said.
Senior police officials rushed to the spot, where the stone-pelting continued for about an hour, resulting in injuries to two sub-inspectors and others and damage to several vehicles.
The police lathicharged the protesters and even fired in the air. Police and provincial armed constabulary were deployed in large numbers in the area after the situation was brought under control.
Similar attacks of lesser intensity were also reported in the Shahganj and Kotwali police station.
Five companies of Rapid Action Force were pressed into service and additional security personnel were brought in from other districts to deal with any emergency, Ahmad said.
Incidentally, Allahabad’s violence was not as spontaneous as the one witnessed in Agra where a road accident resulting in death of four young men of a family led to mobs indulging in arson and setting vehicles ablaze.
