Thirteen Muslims have been booked after allegations of stone-pelting and sloganeering were made over a Hanuman Jayanti shobha yatra of more than a hundred people that passed through a Muslim locality in Danda Jalalpur in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar on Saturday.
Nine of them were arrested.
Police and Hindu groups alleged that the Muslims pelted the procession while Muslims said the people in rally raised hate slogans against minorities when they entered Muslim localities.
There were DJs with loud sound in the rally when they passed through the mosques.
A heavy police force has been deployed in the village coming under the Bhagwanpur station limits, ANI reported.
“The procession was planned for around 3pm but it got delayed and started at 6pm. Around 8.10pm when the procession, in which religious slogans were being raised, was passing through a (200-metre-long) Muslim-majority stretch, some people started pelting stones at the procession. Police teams responded soon and brought the situation under control. Around 2-3 people have received minor injuries in the stone-pelting,” Karan Singh Nagnyal, deputy inspector-general of police said to reporters.
“An FIR was registered and nine persons have been arrested. All of those arrested are locals from the minority community. We are looking for the rest of the accused,” he added.
