The central agencies are trying to ascertain whether the communal flare-up in Delhi on Saturday has any connection with the recent eruptions in Karauli and Khargone in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, during the Ram Navami processions.
The blame game that ensued on Sunday between the two sparring communities in Jahangirpuri has been witnessed ad nauseam. The Muslims in the area claimed that those participating in the Hanuman Jayanti procession were armed and tried to vandalise a mosque. Participants in the procession admitted that they had carried arms but blamed the violence on the Muslims, who they said, threw stones at them.
The most worrisome aspect of Saturday’s flare-up was the arrest of two juveniles; a concerned National Commission for Protection of Child Rights immediately took note of the matter and will look into reports of children being used in violence.
With that, the total number of arrests for the violence has gone up to 20. Officials have recovered three firearms and five swords from the accused. The key accused and allegedly the main conspirator, Ansar, a resident of Jahangirpuri, was found to be a proverbial bad penny who was earlier involved in two cases of assault; he had been also arrested time and again under preventive sections and booked five times under the Gambling Act and the Arms Act.
Two processions had passed and it was the third procession that was allegedly stopped by Ansar and his aides, sources said. Ansar allegedly provoked his community members to stop the procession and asked them to pelt stones.
Among the arrested men is also one Aslam, who, the police say, shot at Delhi Police sub-inspector Medalal Meena. A country-made pistol has been recovered from him. In a video that emerged on Sunday afternoon, a second man is also seen firing a pistol. The police said he has been identified and efforts are on to arrest him.
The Delhi Police, in its statement to the Rohini District Court on the clashes, said, “This violence was not a mere coincidence but a conspiracy. On April 15, accused Ansar and Aslam came to know that a procession was to be held and they had hatched the plot,” they alleged.
Responding to the arrests, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan said it was wrong to hold only one community responsible for the violence. “Is it right to raise objectionable slogans outside the mosque, try to enter the mosque and try to put up a saffron flag?” he asked.
