'From all accounts, Superintendent of Police Pankaj Choudhary played a stellar role in ensuring that three deliberately crafted incidents of violence in Nainwa and Khanpur in Bundi district, Rajasthan, didn’t turn into a bloody communal riot. Among the measures he took was to arrest 11 activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.
'Shaista, daughter of Mohammad Akhlaq, who was lynched by a violen mob in Dadri village over rumours of eating beef in September, on Wednesday named six more people as being part of the mob. Local police officials are investigating their involvement in the case. According to sources in the local police, the six persons are close to Sanjay Rana, the local BJP leader, whose son Vishal and nephew Shivam are accused of creating the rumours and gathering the mob which lynched Akhlaq...'
'In the past four months, the country witnessed 300 incidents of communal violence, 75 every month, where 35 people were killed, according to Home Ministry data accessed by The Hindu. In the entire year till October, 630 incidents were reported and 86 persons lost their lives. The data do not show any spike in incidents under the NDA government. In 2013, when the UPA was in power, 823 such incidents were reported and in 2014 the figure stood at 644, the NDA came to power on May 26, 2014.
'At least 18 people, including three women, were injured in a clash between two communities over bursting crackers at Bhensi village under Khatoli police station in the district, police said. The violent clash, involving fire arms and stones, erupted on Thursday evening when children from one community allegedly started bursting crackers before houses of another community. Senior police officers rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control, police added...'
'A Muslim organisation’s refusal to bury a madrasa headmaster lynched on Monday for allegedly stealing cattle has put the Congress-led Manipur government in a fix. The organisation has also sought the centre’s intervention in what it calls a Dadri-style killing besides calling for a state-wide shutdown on Thursday. Md Hasmat Ali alias Babu, 55, was clobbered to death by a mob near a village in Manipur’s Imphal East district early Monday morning. Villagers had allegedly spotted him with a calf that went missing from one Khumallambam Brojen’s shed.
'The 20,000 strong Baha’i community of Rajasthan is visibly in fear ever since their Jaipur burial ground – the only one they have in the state – was violently attacked and vandalised by a vigilante group allegedly led by the local BJP leader and sarpanch on October 30. The group of 50-60 miscreants not only beat up the chowkidar but broke parts of the under-construction prayer hall. They broke his mobile phone and ransacked the guard room, kitchen and toilet. The group also attacked the labourers working on the site.
'A Muslim barber refused to shut shop “as per custom”, triggering a riot by indignant members of the Hindu community at Nelliyadi village, 70 km from Mangalore, in Karnataka on Tuesday. Though the violence was brought under control a few hours after it erupted around 4 pm, dozens of people were injured and property worth lakhs destroyed in the melee. Bajrang Dal leader Ravi Ballya told HT that the trouble started when the barber, Salman, refused to “respect local sentiments” and keep his shop shut on Tuesdays. “It is well-known that Hindus don’t cut their hair on Tuesdays.
'Ranchi witnessed city-wide violence following a bandh called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Saturday. The police, however, ensured the situation did not spiral out of control. The bandh call was given following communal violence in the Lower Hinoo locality Friday night. An unidentified youth and the cameraperson of a news channel were injured in Saturday’s violence. Police spokesperson and ADG (Operations) S N Pradhan said 65 people had been detained, but no arrests had been made...
'A police inspector and a reserve inspector suffered bullet injuries following indiscriminate firing by rioters in an escalation of violence that had erupted in the Babupurwa area here over damage to a religious poster late Friday night. "Two policemen, including station house officer of Badshahi Naka D K Singh and reserve inspector Yogesh Sharma, were hit by bullets fired by rioters in Chamanganj area." Said SSP Shalabh Mathur. "They were rushed to a hospital. Some locals also suffered injuries in stone throwing by a mob, which also vandalized private and government property.
'Jharkhand simmered with tension on Saturday as communal clashes in four districts left one person dead and several others injured as authorities grappled to contain the fresh conflagration in a state which recorded the highest number of religious conflicts last year. Police said that one person died in indiscriminate firing by unidentified people in Hazaribagh town during clashes on Saturday morning.
