Uneasy calm, heavy police presence in Jahangirpuri a day after violence

PTI, Apr 17, 2022, 5:21 PM IST

An uneasy calm prevailed in Jahangirpuri’s C Block on Sunday, a day after violence broke out during a Hanuman Jayanti procession.

Shops and markets near the Jahangirpuri metro station were functioning as usual on Sunday and there was a heavy police deployment in C Block, the epicentre of the violence that left eight police personnel and a local injured.

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,” Amzad told PTI.

Amzad claimed that nearly 50 people forcibly entered the mosque.

Security has been beefed up in and around C and D blocks near the mosque. Barricades have been put up and police personnel deployed at every 200 metres. Despite this, shops around the mosque were all shut.

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.

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 14 people over the violence.

Mukesh, a shopkeeper who stays at C Block near the 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,” Mukesh said.