Two home guards were killed and at least 15 others, including several policemen, were injured Monday as mobs in Haryana’s Nuh district tried to stop a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession, pelting stones and setting cars on fire, officials said. Shots were fired. The riots break out as mobs tried to stop a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession, pelting stones and setting cars on fire, officials said. Police said the vehicles set ablaze were part of the procession, or belonged to them. A video clip showed at least four cars on fire. Another purported video showed two damaged police cars. The clip contained sound of gunfire. Below are 10 key points we know so far:
1. Suspending mobile internet services in Nuh, the Haryana government said there was “intense communal tension” in the area. According to police, VHP’s ‘Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra’ was stopped by a group of young men near Nuh’s Khedla Mod and stones pelted at the procession. Cars were then set ablaze.People in the procession also hurled stones back at the youths who had stopped them, reports said. Later, many took refuge in a nearby temple as police tried to evacuate them to safety.
VIDEO | “There were attempts by a few people to do stone pelting in Sohna after the reports of Mewat clashes but the situation is under control now. Social media is being monitored and police have been deployed,” said DCP Gurugram Nitish Agarwal. pic.twitter.com/mNvuoSEOT2
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 31, 2023
2. Haryana government has sought 20 companies of the Rapid Action Force from the Centre for a week to maintain the law and order situation in Nuh district. In a communication to the Union home secretary, Haryana’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home), T V S N Prasad, sought 20 companies of the RAF “urgently” for one week from July 31.
3. The Union Home Ministry has dispatched 15 companies of central forces to Haryana, as violence also erupted in Sohna in neighbouring Gurugram district, adjacent to Delhi. These include the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force and Rapid Action Force. As news of the clash in Muslim-dominated Nuh spread, mobs in Sohna pelted stones and set ablaze four vehicles and a shop, belonging to people from that community. Protesters there blocked a road for hours.
VIDEO | A private car was overturned and burned as Haryana’s Mewat was gripped by violent clashes between two groups earlier today. pic.twitter.com/9e1W8f7dak
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 31, 2023
4. Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said that about 2,500 men, women and children at a Shiva temple in Nuh were evacuated by police. These apparently included devotees and those who had taken shelter there as the two sides clashed.
5. Prohibitory orders banning assembly of people were clamped in Nuh and Gurugram districts. Mobile internet services were suspended in Nuh and Faridabad up to Wednesday. Educational institutes were ordered closed Tuesday in Gurugram, Faridabad and Palwal districts as a precautionary measure.
VIDEO | Police deployed in Haryana’s Mewat after reports of clashes between two groups. pic.twitter.com/Sry6hJMmFu
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 31, 2023
6. The yatra was flagged off from Gurugram’s Civil Lines by BJP district president Gargi Kakkar. A police contingent was deployed with the procession. According to some claims, the trigger for the clash was an objectionable video posted on social media by a Bajrang Dal activist in Ballabhgarh.
7. Nuh authorities said late at night that the situation was “under control”. Representatives from both communities held a meeting in which officials and local leaders too took part. Another meeting was slated for Tuesday morning, they said.
8. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar appealed for calm in Nuh, invoking the slogan “Haryana Ek Haryanvi Ek” (Haryanvis are one). Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked people to maintain peace and brotherhood. Nuh MLA Aftab Ahmed and former legislator MLA Zakir Hussain also issued similar appeals.
9. Union minister Rao Inderjit appealed to people of all sections to maintain peace, saying that the residents of Mewat have always set an example of brotherhood. He said that anyone who disturbs brotherhood will not be spared. Meanwhile, Gurugram Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav warned the public of strict legal action for any objectionable post on social media.
10. An alert was sounded in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district following violence in Nuh in neighbouring Haryana, officials said. Superintendent of Police, Bharatpur, Mridul Kachchawa said the vigil has been intensified in the district and social media is being monitored. All checkposts in areas sharing the border with Haryana are being manned, he said.
