Chandigarh: A top Haryana government official on Thursday said anyone found responsible for the communal clashes will not be spared and claimed that the situation is fast returning to normal in the state.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) T V S N Prasad also said a centre of the Rapid Action Force, CRPF’s anti-riot unit, will soon be set up in Nuh. A total of 176 people have been arrested and 78 taken into preventive detention in connection with the communal clashes in Haryana, Prasad said.
He further said 93 FIRs have been registered, including 46 in Nuh, 23 in Gurugram, three in Faridabad, three in Rewari, and 18 in Palwal.
“We have to take a full comprehensive view of the situation. Provocative or false information should not be spread on social media,” Prasad said while addressing the media here.
He said those found responsible for the clashes will not be spared. “We will come down very heavily whoever tries to disturb law and order,” added Prasad.
The additional chief secretary said the situation is fast returning to normalcy.
“I would say it has returned to normalcy. We have adequate forces. The Centre was requested and 24 companies of central forces were provided,” he added.
He said that a battalion of IRB has been deployed in Nuh.
“Very soon in Mewat, we will set up a Rapid Action Force Centre, which will be permanently stationed,” he further said.
ADGP AS Chawla, ADGP OP Singh, ADGP Amitabh Dhillon and Sanjay Singh were also present in the press conference.
Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, have died in the clashes that erupted in Nuh and spread to Gurugram over the past few days.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a mosque was set on fire and a short circuit apparently triggered a blaze in another in Haryana’s Nuh district, while two brothers belonging to Muslim community were allegedly beaten up in Gurugram by a group of about 30 people.
The mosque incidents, in which nobody was injured, took place around 11:30 pm on Wednesday while the Gurugram incident occurred on Wednesday evening, police said.
While one of the mosques is located near Vijay Chowk, the other is near a police station. Both mosques suffered some damage, they said.
Authorities in both districts said no fresh cases of violence were reported on Thursday, asserting that the situation is under control.
Nuh Superintendent of Police Varun Singla said, “Light arson has been done in one mosque while short circuit seems to be the reason for the fire in the other. The police took control of the situation and are conducting raids to nab the suspects.”
Soon after getting the information, fire brigades were rushed to the two mosques and the blaze was doused, police said.
A senior police officer said they are trying to identify the accused with the help of CCTV cameras installed in nearby areas.
The Haryana government has constituted a committee that will monitor social media platforms to prevent the circulation of provocative material to maintain law and order and communal harmony in the state.
Curfew, meanwhile, was relaxed in Nuh on Thursday. “People can buy daily essentials from 10 am to 1 pm,” Nuh Deputy Commissioner Prashant Panwar said, adding the curfew will be relaxed again on Friday for three hours from 10 am.
Mobile internet and SMS services in Nuh and some other places in the state, which were suspended till August 5, were also restored for three hours from 1 pm on Thursday.
In neighbouring Gurugram, two men identified as Nisar Ali and his brother Rustam Ali, were allegedly beaten up on Wednesday evening by a group of about 30 people, police said.
The victims, natives of Malda district in West Bengal, are living in a slum in Palda village here.
According to a complaint by Nisar Ali, a group of about 25 to 30 youths came to the slum on Tuesday and told the dwellers to leave the city by Wednesday.
“On Wednesday at around 7 pm, I, along with my brother Rustam Ali, was going to the slum from Sector 70. On the way near the cricket ground, four-five youths came and asked my name and after that they started beating us. Soon, over 25 youths joined them and thrashed us badly. They fled away when some people gathered there,” Nisar Ali said in his complaint.
Following the complaint, an FIR was registered against unidentified youths under relevant sections of IPC, including section 147 (riots), at Badshahpur police station on Wednesday night.
“An FIR has been registered and we are trying to nab the accused,” said Satish Kumar, SHO of Badshahpur police station.
In Gurugram, members of the Muslim community will not offer Friday namaz at any mosque or open space in view of the communal violence, a community leader announced.
Mufti Saleem Qasmi, president of Jamiat Ulama in Gurugram, appealed through a video message to people to refrain from praying in public places or gathering in mosques for prayers.
In the district, some shops near Jama Masjid were closed. However, markets in other areas were open, police said.
“There is complete peace in Gurugram. Our teams are stationed across the district. No fresh incident of violence took place in the district today,” said Varun Dahiya, ACP (Crime).
Regarding the VHP’s Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra, Prasad said it has been held for over three years now.
“There is an institutional mechanism, there are peace committees. Whenever a yatra is to take place, permission is taken and assessment of situation is done. Meeting of peace committee is held. This time too, the meeting was held and assurances were given that everything will be peaceful. And we followed all the standard operating procedures for the event,” the senior IAS officer said. Prasad said intelligence inputs were received, while referring to what was being said over social media days ahead of the Yatra, and added the same was put before peace committee and an assurance was given that everything would be peaceful.
To a question, he said nobody whoever it may be, if involved in Nuh incident, will be spared.
“We are identifying people who are engaging in this kind of activity and nobody will be spared,” he said.
“But after all we cannot go on surmises and conjectures, we have to identify the real culprits. We have to collect forensic evidence too,” he said.
When asked the Rajasthan government is saying that Haryana Police did not cooperate in arrest of Monu Manesar, Prasad said, “The CM has clearly said yesterday that whatever help they need will be given. I am not aware of any request of Rajasthan Police. If it comes, we will give full assistance.”
Asked about action by the Haryana Police against Monu Manesar over posts on social media, which some claim may have instigated the other side, Prasad said, “It is a matter of investigation. We cannot work on conjectures. We have to give evidence before courts.”
Monu Manesar is a cow vigilante booked earlier by the Rajasthan Police in connection with murder of two Muslim men whose charred bodies were found in Bhiwani district in February. A video of Manesar that he would join the VHP procession in Nuh was widely circulated on social media.