LUCKNOW: Night curfew was clamped in the city of Lakhimpur Kheri, 165 km from state capital Lucknow, late on Thursday night, following communal tension and a few incidents of violence and arson after an objectionable video made by two youngsters, went viral.
According to official sources, the two young men, who were believed to have shot the video on Wednesday, were arrested by Kheri police and sent to judicial custody. Prior to their arrest, the police had picked up their fathers from their Maharajnagar residence in Kheri.
Confirming the reports of tension in the city, the Kheri administration denied that incidents of violence have taken place.
“There is tension but violence has not been reported from anywhere so far,” said DM Kheri Akash Deep while talking to mediapersons on Thursday night. He said that two persons had shot a video making objectionable comments against deities of a particular community. “They have been arrested and sent to jail,” added the DM.
Earlier, tension gripped the city areas of Lakhimpur Kheri as people of a community forced the shutters of shops down and thronged the district police station demanding the accused boys be handed over to them.
Sources said that both the accused, after circulating the video, had fled to Kanpur from where they were arrested. "The boys were arrested and the Magistrate arrived at the police station to take them under judicial custody before the situation could turn ugly,” said police sources, adding that the infuriated public was later pacified by district authorities but the tension prevailed.
However, there were unconfirmed reports of a few incidents of arson and shooting from some areas of the city.
"District administration is on high alert and police patrolling has been increased to avoid any untoward incident," the District Magistrate added.