CHANDIGARH: VHP leaders, former councillors and panchayat chiefs were among 50 people booked for violence during a protest held last week demanding demolition of an illegal portion of a mosque in the Sanjauli area of Shimla, police said on Sunday.
Protesters clashed with security personnel on September 11, breaking barricades and pelting stones as the police used water cannons and batons to disperse them. At least 10 people, including police men and women, were injured.
Shimla SP Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said, “We did not get any application seeking permission to protest. There is CCTV footage, video and photograph evidence of people carrying stones that were thrown at officers on duty. It was a pre-planned protest to disturb the peace. Those who provoked the incident on social media have been identified.”
The protesters have been booked under BNS Sections 196 (1) (promoting enmity on basis of religion); 196(2) (offence at place of worship); 189 (unlawful assembly); 126(2) (wrongful restraint); 61(2) (criminal conspiracy and assault); 353 (2) (spreading false information on religion); 223 (disobeying orders of public servants; and 132 (assaulting public servant).
“In a video, a person was seen standing on a tempo and provoking people to break the prohibitory order. The call detail records of people who instigated the protest have been gathered and more cases will be registered,’’ said Gandhi.
The SP said two police personnel sustained serious injuries, with one on the back and another on the head, and those guilty of it would be dealt with strictly as per the law.
Amid tension over the mosque issue, a Muslim welfare committee on Thursday offered to demolish the unauthorised part while members of the community pulled down a wall of a mosque in government land in Mandi.