HYDERABAD: In an alleged scuffle over road-widening issues in Janwada village of Narsingi, as many as 18 people, including women and children, sustained injuries late on Tuesday. Three of the victims received head injuries and were admitted to the Gandhi Hospital.
The cause of the conflict is said to be the construction of a cement-concrete (CC) road from Mirjaguda village to Janwada. While one group of villagers demanded that the road in front of the Methodist Church be widened, others staged a protest claiming it would be an encroachment of their land.
Alternatively, members of the Christian community have reportedly suggested that the size of the new road be the same as the earlier one. The altercation soon turned into a fight between the two groups, during which one group allegedly vandalised the church, pelted stones and destroyed its properties.
Speaking to TNIE, a relative of one of the victims said, “My people, belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) community, were verbally abused and beaten with iron rods and sticks. They pelted stones at the church and even destroyed the Holy Cross.”
Twenty minutes after the incident, the police arrived at the spot. Subsequently, a case under Section 3 of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and Sections 447 (criminal trespass), 295 A (deliberate and malicious intention of outraging religious sentiments), 504 (verbal disrespect), 506 (criminal intimidation), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 148 (rioting) of the IPC was registered.
Similarly, the other group filed a counter FIR alleging that the members of the church illegally assembled and disrupted the construction work. “They pelted stones and bricks from the church towards the complainant and public,” read the FIR. The complaint also stated that three of the villagers were attacked during the fight. Here too, a case was registered on charges of unlawful assembly, rioting and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons.
11 arrested, Section 144 in force
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state unit president Dr RS Praveen Kumar visited Janwada on Wednesday. “Over 200 people attacked the families inside the church with iron rods and sticks. They didn’t even spare a polio patient,” Praveen Kumar told .
Alleging that the members of the BJP and the BRS were involved in the attack, he said, “While the cause of the conflict may be widening of the road, it is purely based on hatred.”
The BSP leader also noted that following continuous protests in Janwada, the police apprehended 11 accused on Wednesday. Later, the police took him under preventive custody. Cyberabad Commissioner of Police Avinash Mohanty imposed Section 144 CrPc in the limits of Mokila police station to prevent danger to human life and safety. The order is in force from February 14 to February 21 and gatherings of more than five people are prohibited.