Bengal CM appeals for peace. Situation in Howrah under control
The mob violence in Howrah district in Bengal over the insult to Prophet Mohammed by BJP spokesperson (now suspended) Nupur Sharma in a television programme, which started on Friday, is more or less in control now after the imposition of Section 144 on Friday night.
Sporadic violence took place in Panchla Bazar area yesterday including pelting stones at the police and setting some houses on fire.
Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) (prohibition of the assembly of five or more people) was imposed on Friday, June 10 till June 15, in many places across the district, including in Uluberia, Panchla, Domjur and Jagatballavpur. Internet services have also been suspended in the district till June 13.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has appealed for peace. She put out a message on Twitter yesterday, saying [translated from Bengali], “There are some political parties behind this and they want to cause riots – but these will not be tolerated and strict action will be taken against all of them.”
She ended by saying that “BJP has sinned, so why should the common people suffer?”
While on his way to the district on Saturday afternoon, BJP’s Bengal president Sukanta Majumdar was arrested near the toll plaza on Vidyasagar Setu, the police said.
A police officer told news agency PTI that the “situation in Howrah district is [now] peaceful” and that “huge police contingents” are deployed “in sensitive areas”.
Following the violence, a change was brought about in the top-level police administration in Howrah district. Praveen Tripathi is the new police commissioner of Howrah City and Swathi Bhangalia is the new SP of Howrah (Rural), replacing C Sudhakar and Saumya Roy, respectively, who have been transferred to Kolkata Police.
As a precaution, internet services have also been suspended in the Muslim-majority Beldanga 1 block (covering Beldanga Police Station area) and Beldanga 2 block (covering Rejinagar and Shaktipur Police Station areas) in Murshidabad district till 6 am on June 14.
In another development, the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) on Saturday sent a show-cause notice to Md Sanaullah Siddiqui, the Pirzada of Furfura Sharif, for using children in violent demonstrations after videos surfaced on Facebook showing children participating in protests at Domjur in Howrah district on Friday.
