Tauru: While Haryana’s Nuh is largely peaceful three days after communal violence erupted in the district, sporadic incidents of unrest have been reported from its Tauru town.
Molotov cocktails — bottles filled with inflammable liquid with a source of ignition — were hurled at two mosques in Tauru by unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants Wednesday night, according to Nuh police.
A video doing the rounds on social media said the mosques — Juma mosque in Kucha Bazar and Kasai mosque, located a kilometre away — had been burnt down.
But police said the mosques suffered minor fire damage, and there were no injuries.
As soon as information about the incident reached police, fire brigades were rushed to the spot to douse the flames.
Additional Director General (ADG) of Police Mamta Singh and Superintendent of Police (SP)
Narendra Bijarniya visited the spot to gauge the situation.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior police officer said “the incident occurred around 11 pm Wednesday but the police were quick to control the situation”.
“The ADG and SP visited the spot. Currently, everything is under control. Police have been deployed outside all the three mosques in the area,” said the officer.
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‘Mats & mattresses damaged’
The Juma mosque is located in the Kacha Bazar, in a narrow alley. When ThePrint visited the spot Thursday, there was heavy police presence outside the locked mosque, while the shops in the vicinity were shut.
The caretaker of the mosque, Mohammad Farooq, stood by his motorcycle, waiting to open the locked door.
He told ThePrint that he had received instructions that the mosque should only be opened in the presence of a senior police officer.
About the events of Wednesday night, Farooq said he had received information around 10.30 pm that men had gathered outside the mosque, “but couldn’t gather the courage to visit the area at the time”.
“I had locked the mosque on the morning of 31 July (Monday), and after that curfew was imposed. Since then, I have only come to the mosque now,” he added. “I came here this morning. From outside, the mosque is locked the way I had left it three days ago. I am yet to go inside and check.”
Farooq was joined by a local resident, Surinder Dua, who identified himself as a “lambardar (title in the Indian subcontinent that applies to powerful families of zamindars of a village revenue estate)”.
He requested the police personnel deployed at the spot to let them open the door. He told ThePrint he had visited both mosques, and could confirm that they hadn’t been damaged.
“Even I received information last night that some untoward incident has occurred outside the two mosques,” he said. “This morning, I visited both mosques and realised that the information was wrong. The mosques are intact and locked. The police are deployed,” Dua said.
Another local resident said a few mats were damaged because of the fire, but the police were quick to bring the situation under control.
“When I reached the spot, the police had already arrived and the fire brigade was dousing the flames,” he said. “I got the opportunity to enter the mosque. Minor damages to the mats and mattresses had taken place. No damage to any sacred scriptures was done.”
Meanwhile, internet remains suspended in the violence-affected districts of Nuh, Faridabad, Palwal and three subdivisions of Gurugam. An order issued by the Haryana home secretary said the situation in the areas was still “critical and tense”.
The violence in Nuh erupted during the Vishva Hindu Parishad’s ‘Braj Mandal Yatra’, which was allegedly attacked with stones following “provocative videos”, including by self-styled cow vigilante Monu Manesar, that had been flaring tempers in the area over the preceding two days.
Manesar is an accused in the killing of two Muslim men earlier this year and has yet to be arrested.
Members of the procession were allegedly armed as well, and clashes ensued.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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