167 Muslims arrested following communal clash over a shared dargah
Activists of Shree Ram Sena, a Right-wing group had earlier announced their intentions to hold a ‘purification’ puja at the Raghava Chaitanya Shivalinga in the Ladle Mashak Dargah on March 1 to mark Mahashivratri.
Hyderabad: 167 Muslim residents of Aland, a town in the state’s Kalaburagi district have been arrested by the Karnataka police in connection with the communal tensions between at a local dargah between Hindu and Muslim groups on Tuesday, March 1.
According to The Wire, five FIRs have been registered in this regard.
Activists of Shree Ram Sena, a Right-wing group had earlier announced their intentions to hold a ‘purification’ puja at the Raghava Chaitanya Shivalinga in the Ladle Mashak Dargah on March 1 to mark Mahashivratri. On the same day, a sandal procession and observations of Shab-e-Meraj was planned by the dargah authorities.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) were imposed by the Karnataka police from February 27 – March 3 in the region foreseeing a conflict.
However, a group of activists from the Hindu outfit launched a procession for the dargah. They were joined by BJP Union minister Bhagwanth Khuba, BJP MLA from Aland Subhash Guttedar, other BJP MLAs Rajkumar Patil Telkur and Basavaraj Mattimadu and BJP State vice-president Malikayya Guttedar.
On receipt of information about the gathering of the mob, local Muslims reportedly gathered outside the dargah and attempted to break the barricades. They questioned authorities on allowing members from the right-wing group to offer prayers.
The situation became tense after incidents of stone pelting and damage of vehicles.
However, all the cases were registered against Muslims.
