Ram Navami Yatra Violence: BJP MLA Injured In Fresh Clash In Bengal's Hooghly, Cops Attacked In J'khand

Last week too, clashes had erupted between two groups during Ram Navami celebrations in Bengal's Howrah.

Vehicles were torched in the clashes

Source : PTI

New Delhi: A BJP MLA was injured after fresh violence broke out between two groups during a Ram Navami procession in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Sunday evening. As a precautionary measure, prohibitory orders were imposed, and internet services were suspended in the area, PTI reported citing police sources.

According to officials, a few police personnel were injured in the violence.

In a similar incident, three policemen sustained injuries in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district when they tried to stop loud music during a Ram Navami procession, a senior officer said on Sunday.

Last week too, clashes had erupted between two groups during Ram Navami celebrations in Bengal's Howrah. Over 45 people were arrested, prohibitory orders were imposed and the internet was suspended to bring the situation under control.

Here are the key developments:

• In Hoogly, the Ram Navami procession was attacked near Wellington Jute Mill More at GT Road around 6.15 pm, police said.
  
  
• Pursurah BJP MLA Biman Ghosh was injured in the violence. 
  
  
• BJP vice-president Dilip Ghosh, who was in the procession that was attacked, told PTI that people were walking peacefully to the Jagannath temple in Mahesh when stones were hurled at it.
  
  
• He said there were many women and children in the procession that was attacked. "Suddenly, stones were hurled at us from one side of the road. Several policemen were also injured in the stone-pelting even though I and some other leaders were rescued and taken out of the area through adjacent lanes," he said.
  
  
• No arrest has been made in connection with the violence yet.
  
  
• A heavy police deployment has been made in the area to prevent any further flare-up, police said.
  
  
• A senior officer said, "Police are doing route march, and prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144 have been imposed in Rishra wards 1-5 and Serampore's ward 24. Internet services will remain suspended in parts of Rishra and Serampore till 10 pm on Monday." 
  
  
• Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is at present in Darjeeling, said those behind the violence will be "booked tonight itself and put behind bars". "The miscreants, the hooligans, and the thugs will be crushed with an iron hand. They will be made to curse the day they were born. Mobocracy cannot derail democracy. We are determined, the state is determined to put an end to this arson and looting."
  
  
• The Ram Navami celebrations in Jharkhand's Hazaribag had begun around 8 pm on Friday and concluded on Saturday night.
  
  
• Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe said that when the procession reached Veer Kunwar Singh Chowk playing 'DJ music' on Saturday, it was stopped by police and asked to turn off the music.
  
  
• "When they refused it, a magistrate seized the sound system and the vehicle. Those in the procession attacked the police, in which three policemen were severely injured. Among those injured were sub-inspector Sanjiv Kumar Pandey and constable Vikas Kumar Singh. They were admitted to hospital," he said.
  
  
• A case has been registered against the president of the akhara, which organised the procession, and 200 'unnamed' persons at the Korra police station in connection with the incident, he added.