6 ‘rioters’ killed in Haldwani clashes; CM Pushkar Dhami calls it ‘planned attack’

Haldwani/New Delhi, February 9

Six rioters were killed in the violence that broke out over the demolition of an illegally built madrasa, officials said on Friday as curfew remained enforced in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani town.

More than 60 people were hurt on Thursday as locals hurled stones and petrol bombs at municipal workers and the police, forcing many police personnel to seek refuge in a police station which the mob then set on fire.

Seven people, including a journalist, were under treatment at three different hospitals on Friday. Three of them were said to be in a serious condition. Others had been discharged.

Altogether, six “rioters” were killed, Superintendent of Police (City) Harbans Singh told PTI.

A day after the clashes, with curfew in force since 9 pm on Thursday, Haldwani’s Banbhoolpura area looked deserted. Stones were strewn on the streets and there were charred remains of torched vehicles.

On Friday, no further incidents of violence were reported from the locality.

Over 1,000 police personnel remained deployed in the town, close to Nainital, officials said. The demolished structures were on government land, and municipal workers and police acted after court orders, they said.

Officials said they were pelted with stones from rooftops, where they appeared to have been stocked.

At least some of the alleged rioters killed in the violence had gunshot wounds.

Nainital District Magistrate Vandana Singh confirmed that orders to open fire, with instructions to shoot the rioters in the leg, were issued when the mob attacked the police station.

Uttarakhand police chief Abhinav Kumar said action would also be taken under the stringent National Security Act against those found to be involved in the attacks on police personnel.

“I don’t know how I survived,” a policewoman told a television channel from her hospital bed, as she talked about being targeted by locals who had resisted the demolition.

BJP MPs said the Haldwani violence appeared to be a “conspiracy” and warranted strict action against the guilty.

In Parliament, Indian Union Muslim league MP ET Mohammed Basheer said such incidents should not happen, or the country would suffer. He also referred to the Uniform Civil Code bill passed this week in Uttarakhand Assembly.

DGP Kumar said the situation was under control to a large extent with the imposition of curfew but they are focused on bringing back normalcy in the town within the next 24 hours.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited Haldwani, meeting some of the injured. He termed the violence a “planned attack”, and said the stockpiling of arms, stones and petrol bombs suggested this.

“Our women police personnel were brutally thrashed. They even tried to throw a journalist into the flames. It was an attempt to disrupt the atmosphere of social amity and peace for which Uttarakhand is known,” he told reporters.

“Action will be taken. Law will take its own course,” he said.

“Every rioter involved in arson and stone-pelting should be identified and strictest action taken against them,” Dhami had said earlier in the day.

Four people were arrested up to around noon Friday, and three FIRs registered, police said.

Around 15 or 20 people seem to have been involved in instigating the violence, a police official said.