Irked over minor mishap, kanwariyas pelt school bus with stones in Ratia

Deepender Deswal
Tribune News Service
Hisar, July 30
A group of kanwariyas turned violent and pelted a school bus with stones after it brushed past their vehicle, a modified four-wheeler, in Ratia town of Fatehabad district today.
Nearly 40 students of a private school were travelling in the bus when the mishap occurred. Though the students are learnt to have been allowed to alight from the bus before it was attacked, the children were in for a shock following the violence as angry kanwariyas gheraoed the vehicle.
According to information, the incident occurred when the bus tried to overtake the vehicle of the kanwariyas, who were undertaking Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage and were headed from Haridwar to Sirsa. The kanwariyas alleged that a pitcher of holy water being carried by one of the pilgrims was damaged.
A heated argument ensued as the kanwariyas allegedly pulled the driver out of the bus and thrashed him. In the meanwhile, another bus of the same school arrived and the children were shifted into it. The kanwariyas subsequently went on the rampage and smashed the windowpanes of the bus.
A few associates of the bus driver soon arrived on the spot and blocked the road in protest. A police team led by DSP Sanjay Bishnoi too reached the site and tried to placate the protesters.
Ratia police station SHO Jai Singh said the bus brushed past the vehicles of the kanwariyas, which enraged them. The police have registered a case against two Ratia residents, Vicky and Sanjay, and nearly 30 kanwariyas under Sections 115, 126, 190, 191(2), 324 (4), 351(2) and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Vicky is the Fatehabad district president of the VHP’s religious publicity wing while Sanjay is the Ratia city convener of the Bajrang Dal. Both have denied their role in the violence.

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