At least 22 people have been arrested for allegedly pelting stones during a procession in the Fatehpura area of Vadodara in Gujarat. A man was reportedly injured in the stone pelting incident that took place on Thursday on the occasion of Ram Navami, as reported by the news agency ANI.
This was the second such incident after stones were pelted during another procession taken out in the Kumbharwada area of Vadodara on the same day.
Talking to the media, Manoj Ninama, Joint CP, Vadodara City said, "Area domination and combing operation underway. Around 200 police personnel have been deployed. So far, 22 people have been detained in connection to the incident," as quoted by ANI.
Talking to the media, Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said, "Stones were pelted in Vadodara during the Ram Navami procession. Around 15-17, people have been caught. The accused are being identified with the help of CCTV," as quoted by ANI.
"The additional force has been sent to Vadodara. Strict action will be taken against stone pelters," Sanghavi said. Some anti-social elements tried to pelt stones at the Ram Navami procession. Police took prompt action and handled the matter. All the processions have been completed peacefully, Shamsher Singh, Commissioner CP, Vadodara City said.
Stone-pelting occurred on Thursday during the Ram Navami Shoba Yatra in Vadodara. The police said on Thursday that the situation is under control, and there is peace in the affected area, according to news agency ANI, which posted a video of the incident.
Some vehicles were damaged and the procession continued along its planned route under police protection, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Yashpal Jaganiya. According to a local Bajrang Dal leader, despite knowing that such an incident had occurred in the past, police were nowhere to be found when the procession, which is held every year along the same route, was attacked.
Local BJP MLA Manisha Vakil was part of the procession which came under attack at Kumbharwada. In some videos of the incident aired by new channels, people can be seen running for shelter during stone pelting, while a chariot that was carrying a statue of Lord Ram, was also pulled away to a safer place by the devotees to save it from stones.
Some of the injured persons told reporters that miscreants hurled stones on them from the terraces of nearby structures, as reported by PTI. Hours before that incident, stones were thrown at a Ram Navami procession, organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, in Fatehpura area.
Following the incident, Bajrang Dal's Vadodara unit chief Ketan Trivedi had claimed that the miscreants attacked the Ram Navami procession as part of a "planned conspiracy" and similar incidents had happened on several occasions in the past too, as reported by PTI.