Violent Hindus in Samba vehemently opposed ‘act of sacrilege’. Communal Tension and Curfew still on.

Samba tense over ‘act of sacrilege’ by hurting ‘Hindu sentiment on Go Mata’. Furious Hindus torched police zeep and public vehicle, injured many. Curfew imposed, Army called out. 

HENB | Jammu | Aug 21, 2015:: Authorities imposed curfew Thursday night in Samba district and deployed Army and paramilitary forces to take flag march following the massive Hindu protests at Raya Morh by furious mob against a sacrilegious act in the area.

The agitated Hindu mob protesting against a sacrilegious act in Raya Morh area came to streets Thrusday evening and blocked the Jammu- Pathankot National Highway.

It is reported that that some villagers recovered bovine body from a water passage named Maroodi nallah near Jakh on Thursday early evening. They assembled along the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway at Jakh and started protest demanding arrest of the culprit involved in the alleged sacrilegious act and punishment to them under law of the land.

Indian Express reported, “Trouble erupted after locals spotted the head of a bovine animal floating in a nullah near Raya after the rains”.  But, Kashmir Times reported, “some villagers recovered headless torso of an animal from a nallah in Maroodi nallah near Jakh”.

SSP Samba and ASP Samba along with contingents of police and paramilitary forces rushed to the protest sites. The protests spread to Swankha Morh and Jakh areas where hundreds of villagers came on the roads and started targeting the vehicles and police. The vehicular traffic was stopped by the police on the highway till midnight as precautionary measures. Additional forces from Jammu also rushed to Vijaypur as the situation remain tense till midnight.

The authorities earlier imposed the Section 144 to quell the frenzied mob but after the situation went out of control as the mob damaged vehicles they imposed the curfew in entire Samba district. Some policemen and people were also injured in stone pelting.

Reports said the trouble started as the news of sacrilegious act spread in the surrounding villages of Raya Morh and the Hindu people from Jhak, Raya, Dera Galotra, Sarore, Patli Morh and other adjoining villages took to streets. They rushed to Raya Morh and blocked the Jammu Pathankot NH. The unruly mob raising slogans against the sacrilegious act resorted to stone pelting and violence.

Soon after the incident, SHO Vijaypur Rajeshwar Singh,  Dy SP Vijaypur, S S Samyal and tehsildar rushed to the spot along with police reinforcement. However they failed to control the mob whose tampers were very high. Later Additional DC Samba Pawan Sharma, SDM Vijaypur, Rajnesh Gupta, SSP Samba Joginder Singh also reached there. Their all pleas to pacify the mob failed.

Police fired some rounds of teargas shells in the air to disperse the mob but it did not budge and continued the protest and stone pelting. As soon as the DC Samba Sheetal Nanda reached the spot the unruly mob pounced on her vehicle and first broke its front screen and later torched it completely. The DC came out of the vehicle and took shelter in a house to save her life while her PSO sustained wounds in melee. The vehicle of ADC was also attacked by angry mob. The mob also tried to torch the vehicle of Additional DC but failed in doing so.

The protestors then blocked Jammu-Pathankot National Highway at around 6.30 PM at Raya Morh. Some of the protestors started targeting the Kashmir bound vehicles of particular community. The cops prevented them from targeting the valley based vehicles after which they started pelting stones upon the cops. The cops resorted to cane charge and tear smoke shells to disperse the mob but the situation turned more violent as they stoned several vehicles on the highway. Later, the protestors torched a private truck bearing registration number JK02AL-3185 and several motorcycles on the highway and two cars on Raya Morh road, reports said.

DC Samba Sheetal Nanda who was herself monitoring the situation at Raya Morh told  that mob resorted to violence following the reports of a sacrilegious act in the area. She said the unruly mob tried to damage the vehicles on the road and torched one vehicle and a motor cycle. She said to control the situation from going astray the administration imposed curfew in entire Samba district.

The National Highway was closed for vehicular traffic and no vehicle was allowed to proceed ahead of Bari Brhamana and Ghagwal by the authorities.

On Wednesday, there was a protest for alleged desecration of religious scriptures in a scrap godown in Bari Brahmana industrial area. Police arrested two person for that case from Srinagar.

To assist the civil administration and police, the paramilitary forces and Army was deployed in the area.

However, late in the night of Thursday police and paramilitary forces tried to restore the National Highway by clearing the jam of vehicles.

Meanwhile, senior VHP leaders have demanded that the culprits responsible for sacrilegious act be immediately arrested and action taken against them under law. The VHP patron Dr Rama Kant Dubey took up the issue with Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr Pawan Kotwal and urged him that the administration should take up immediate steps in nabbing the culprits so that the situation will not go out of hand.

Meanwhile, as a prohibitory measure, Section 144 CrPc has been imposed in Jammu district also by the administration. This was stated by District Development Commissioner, Jammu, Simranjit Singh here.

As per report, all the educational institutions was remain closed in Samba district on Friday.

Police and civil administration are seeking the help of the elders of both the Hindu and Muslim  communities to restore communal harmony in the town.

__with spl input from Daily Excelsior.