Violence erupts in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani after madrasa demolition

HALDWANI: Communal tension clutched the Haldwani area of Nainital district on Thursday evening following the demolition of a madrasa and an underground mosque-like structure that were illegally constructed on government land in the Banbhulpura area.

Police said most of the around 60 people hospitalised after the violence in the city’s Banbhoolpura area were police personnel and municipal workers involved in the demolition of a local madrasa.

According to information obtained from the spot, in the Banbhoopura area, local residents threw stones at the team of municipal corporation and police who were demolishing illegally constructed prayer sites and mosques in the illegally occupied Mallik garden. More than 20 police personnel, including the Ramnagar SHO, were injured in the incident.

Eyewitnesses report that the rioters damaged the JCB of the municipal corporation and set fire to several vehicles including police jeeps and tractors. Youth on the rooftops kept on continuously pelting stones. The police also resorted to stone pelting in defense, and several rounds of tear gas were fired.

Fire was set to the Banbhoopura police station, sources said.

Meanwhile, two companies of the PAC from Rudrapur have been dispatched to Haldwani.

Orders have been given to shoot on sight any rioters in the curfew-affected areas.

According to information received, the municipal corporation had started preparations on Thursday afternoon to demolish the mosque and madrasa in ‘Malik Bagh’ in the Indira Nagar area of Banbhoopura. By the afternoon, forces from police stations around Haldwani and three reserved police buses had arrived outside the police station.