New Delhi: Over 130 people were arrested from six districts in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of protests over the controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad by now suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, news agency PTI reported. According to the report, people pelted stone at police personnel in Prayagraj and Saharanpur. Protests also broke out after Friday prayers in at least four other cities in UP.
“As many as 136 protesting miscreants were arrested from six districts of the state till 9.45 pm on Friday,” PTI quoted Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar as saying.
Some motorcycles and carts were torched and an attempt was made to set a police vehicle ablaze in Prayagraj. Police had to use tear gas and lathis to disperse the agitating crowd and peace was restored later, officials said, adding one policeman was injured.
As per the ADG, 45 protesters were arrested from Saharanpur, 37 from Prayagraj, 23 from Ambedkar Nagar, 20 from Hathras, seven from Moradabad, and four were arrested from Firozabad.
According to the report, the protesters demanded death sentence for Nupur Sharma in Saharanpur.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said, "Minor force was used to stop some people involved in the violence. The situation in Prayagraj is now peaceful. I would like to appeal to people to use democratic ways of protest without resorting to violence."
People also staged protests in Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur and Lucknow over the controversial remarks. Sloganeering took place in Lucknow.
According to the locals, stone pelting continued for over 15 minutes in Prayagraj. They said some miscreants pelted stones at the police deployed on the main road and the violence intensified when more people joined the stone pelters.
Uttar Pradesh's Director General of Police (DGP) DS Chauhan said, "Because of our preparedness, no life has been lost. We will take strict action against those found involved in the violence."
Additional Director General (ADG), Parayagraj Zone, Prem Prakash said a constable of Rapid Action Force was injured during stone pelting.
In Saharanpur, protestors holding placards raised slogans against Nupur Sharma. Some of them turned violent after the security personnel tried to stop them, leading to a brief stone pelting in the Nehru market area. Some madrasa students also raised slogans in Deoband area.
The protesters raised slogans demanding capital punishment for Sharma.
District Magistrate Akhilesh Singh said, "Police had to retort to force when the protesters refused to hear the appeals of peace by police personnel. The protestors are being identified using CCTV footage for further action."
As a precautionary measure, four people, including the district president of AIMIM, were arrested in Bijnor, police said
Superintendent of Police Dharamveer Singh said AIMIM district chief Abdullah, along with one Iftekhar, Mahroof and Akil were arrested for inciting communal hatred.
According to the police, the accused had called a gathering near Purani Musfi area in Bijnor. The arrests were made on the complaint of people from the Muslim community, the SP said.
Meanwhile, in Kanpur, the epicentre of communal violence last week, the Friday prayers were held in a peaceful manner amid strict security vigil by police with no reports of any untoward incident.