Six killed during protest against desecration of holy book in Ghaziabad - Times of India

LUCKNOW: Curfew was imposed in Dasna area of Ghaziabad after six people were killed and 12 injured, including two critically, in violence and arson during a protest against alleged desecration of the Quran. This is the sixth incident of communal violence in six months rule of Samajwadi Party so far.

The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has ordered an inquiry into the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of those killed, Rs 50,000 each to those seriously injured and Rs 25,000 to those having minor injuries.

The protest was triggered after torn pages from a holy book were found at Adhyatmik Nagar station platform late on Friday night. Irate mob set a police station afire. The incident occurred after police allegedly ignored their complaint instead of taking action.

"A member of our community saw pages of the holy Quran on which objectionable words were written along with a mobile number. He showed the pages to senior community members in the town, who took the pages to the police station," said Ayub, a local advocate. "Instead of taking action, the police ignored the complaint," he added. Following which an angry mob set the Masuri police station on fire.

Four police vehicles, six buses and some other vehicles were also damaged in the incident.

As the situation remained tense, prohibitory orders continued to be in place in Masuri police station area on Saturday and a large number of personnel from Rapid Action Force and Provincial Armed Constabulary were deployed.

Police registered a case against unidentified people in connection with the desecration of the holy book. A senior police official said they were in the process of identifying the rioters and once they are identified, case will be registered against them.

Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav termed the incident as unfortunate and has said that stern action will be taken against guilty officers. On the direction of the chief minister, divisional commissioner, Meerut has been asked to conduct an inquiry.

Ghaziabad district magistrate Aparna Upadhyay and senior superintendent of police Prashant Kumar told reporters that six persons were killed in the violence. A sub-inspector and a head constable suffered serious injuries and are in critical condition.

Asked whether protesters died in police firing, officials said it was a matter of investigation and they were awaiting post-mortem report to ascertain the cause of deaths.

Earlier, communal violence and tension were reported from Bareilly, Pratapgarh and Mathura. In Bareilly and Pratapgarh two incidents of communal violence took place within last six months.

While four people were killed on June 1 during clash in Kosi Kalan in Mathura, around 40 houses were set afire on June 23 in Pratapgarh's Asthan village following gang rape and murder of a minor dalit girl. Communal violence in Barielly on July 23 and August 11 had left three dead.

Attempts to vitiate peaceful atmosphere in Lucknow, Kanpur and Allahabad were also made on August 17 when in a planned manner processions were taken out to protest against alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.