New Delhi: A large number of police personnel, including anti-riot force, were deployed in the violence-hit areas of Jahangirpuri in northwest Delhi as an uneasy calm prevailed on Sunday even as police in several areas across the Capital held marches to assert area dominance and deter miscreants from heightening tensions.
Shops and markets near the Jahangirpuri Metro station remained open on Sunday though people mostly stayed indoors and the police had barricaded paths leading to the mosque in C Block, which was the flashpoint for Saturday's clashes.
In fact, many residents said that the mosque was closed off even for those who wanted to offer prayers. Moreover, the Delhi Police remained on its toes across the Capital as well with reports of men with weapons preparing for another Shobha Yatra in Uttam Nagar.
However, the police said that this one was held peacefully after a meeting of the area's "aman" committee.
There was a heavy police deployment in C Block, the epicentre of the communal clash that left eight police personnel and a local injured on Saturday evening.
Mukesh, a shopkeeper who stays near the C Block mosque, said those who tried to disrupt peace in the area must have been outsiders.
"I have been staying here for last 35 years but have never seen such kind of violence in this area. Hindus and Muslims live here peacefully. People who were in the procession
must be outsiders and not Jahangirpuri locals," he said. Some members of the two communities alleged that actions of the other side triggered the violence.
Sheikh Amzad, a resident of C Block, said he was inside the mosque in C Block when the violence broke out on Saturday evening.
"They (participants of Hanuman Jayanti procession) were chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' and raising provocative slogans. They forcibly entered the mosque and started tying saffron flags in its premises. They were threatening us with swords...That's when stone pelting began. Such an incident has never before happened in Jahangirpuri," he alleged. Amzad claimed that nearly 50 people forcibly entered the mosque. Manoj Kumar said he was at his shop in C Block when the violence broke out.
"I saw people screaming and rushing inside their houses...Previously I have seen verbal altercations between the communities here. People in the procession were carrying weapons but stone pelting was done by Muslims first," Kumar claimed.
Security has been beefed up in and around C and D blocks. Barricades have been put up and police personnel deployed at every 200 metres. Despite this, shops around the mosque at C Block were all shut.
According to the police, there was stone-pelting and arson during the clashes between the two communities. Some vehicles were also torched.
The Delhi Police has arrested 20 people and apprehended two juveniles over the violence.
Deependra Pathak, Special Commissioner (Law and Order-Zone 1) said efforts are being made to identify other accused through CCTV and other
video footage.
"Right now, the situation is totally under control. We have our additional force deployed here. We have done peace committee meetings and are also in touch with the prominent residents of the areas. They gave assurances that they would maintain peace in their respective areas," he said.
But even as the Delhi Police claimed that the situation was largely under control, the Jahangirpuri area did see some isolated outbursts. One outside the local police station, where a BJP leader and his supporters clashed with protesting Muslim women, whose kin they say had been framed and arrested.
While the BJP supporters chanted that everyone in India must say "Jai Shree Ram", the protesting Muslim women chanted "Allahu Akbar".
In addition to this, on Sunday afternoon, there was an instance of some miscreants trying to inflame tensions using anti-Muslim speeches near the mosque in C Block, which was the flashpoint of the violence.
WITH INPUTS FROM JAGISHA ARORA