JODHPUR: Ninety seven people were arrested after communal tensions heightened in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur on Tuesday, hours before Eid-ul-Fitr.
According to local media, authorities also suspended mobile internet services and imposed a curfew in areas that come under the jurisdiction of 10 police stations across the city.
Three injured people are undergoing treatment at hospitals while 12-15 others have been discharged after primary treatment, the Rajasthan government has said.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, whose hometown is Jodhpur, appealed to maintain peace and harmony after the incident. He also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership of trying to defame the state government.
At midnight on Monday, a clash broke out over the hoisting of a flag on the statue of a freedom fighter, Balmukund Bissa. Another flag installed at the statue ahead of Hindu festival Parshuram Jayanti was reported as having gone missing.
The situation went out of control in the early hours of Tuesday. Police fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Five policemen were injured fresh clashes began after prayers at an Eidgah where an Eid prayer congregation was being held.
Shops, vehicles and houses were pelted with stones near the Jalori gate area. Consequently, mobile internet services were suspended in the area to check the spread of rumours, officials said.
A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed disquiet over the Hindu-Muslim clashes in Indian city of Jodhpur that coincided with Eid-ul-Fitr.
“I think the basic point is our hope that the various communities will work together and that the government and the security forces will ensure that everyone can go about their activities, including their celebratory activities, peacefully,” deputy spokesperson Farhan Aziz Haq at the regular noon briefing at UN headquarters in New York.
The resulting tensions prompted the authorities to suspend mobile internet services and impose a curfew in parts of the city.
