Lagatar24 Desk
Amravati, Nov.13: Section 144 was enforced in Maharashtra’s Amravati city after a mob threw stones at stores on Saturday during a bandh called by the BJP in protest of demonstrations held by members of a minority community the day before protesting alleged communal violence in Tripura.
According to an Amravati Police official, police used lathi-charge to quell the incident.
To avoid any untoward situations, presiding police commissioner Sandip Patil issued orders imposing a curfew throughout the municipal limits of Amravati under sections 144(1), (2), and (3) of the CrPc.
People are not permitted to leave their homes except in medical situations. A meeting of more than five persons is also prohibited, according to the rule. The curfew is in effect until further notice.
Hundreds of people, many of them brandishing saffron flags and shouting slogans, marched through the streets of Rajkamal Chowk, a city in eastern Maharashtra around 670 kilometres from the state capital. According to the official, some members of the mob threw stones at businesses in the Rajkamal Chowk and other locations, causing damage, and the police lathi-charged the demonstrators to bring the situation under control.
On Friday, stone-pelting occurred in several Maharashtra cities amid rallies organised by Muslim organisations in response to alleged communal violence in Tripura. These instances occurred in the districts of Amravati, Nanded, Malegaon, Washim, and Yavatmal.
In connection with Friday’s disturbances, police have arrested 20 persons and detained four others after filing 20 FIRs on various offences, including rioting.
On Friday, around 8,000 people assembled outside the district collector’s office in Amravati to deliver a memorandum seeking an end to atrocities against minorities. When individuals were departing after delivering the memorandum, stone-pelting occurred at three locations within the Kotwali police station, between Chitra Chowk and Cotton Market.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut launched a veiled attack on the opposition BJP on Saturday, saying the violence in Amravati and other locations is aimed at destabilising the MVA administration. Raut told reporters in Aurangabad that the state government is “firmly in the saddle” and that the true faces of the violence’s culprits will be revealed soon.
