Communal violence in riot-ravaged Muzaffarnagar flared up yet again killing five persons, including a woman, and injuring a few others late on Wednesday night.
SSP Muzaffarnagar, H N Singh, speaking to Express confirmed that two warring groups clashed with each other in a Muslim-dominated village in Doha Kala police station, which left three persons dead. “We are arresting the accused and half a dozen persons have been nabbed already,” the SSP informed.
According to reports, trouble began when a retired army jawan was shot dead by unknown persons around 7 pm. He was part of a group of villagers who were on the way to their agricultural farm in Mohammadpur Raisina village when the incident occurred.
The enraged villagers attacked members of the rival community in an adjoining village and killed three of them on the spot. Police said all the three were beaten to death. The villagers also attacked a couple on a bike with their child in the adjoining village. While the woman died on the spot, the child is missing and her husband fled. The incident caused fresh tension in parts of Muzaffarnagar.
Wednesday’s incident again puts the Akhilesh Yadav government in the dock as hundreds of persons displaced from the September riots have not returned to their homes yet and government efforts to rehabilitate them have failed. The August-September riots had claimed over 50 lives, left scores injured and thousands displaced from their homes and villages.
The ruling Samajwadi Party is already facing flak for its failure to maintain law and order in the state.