04-08-2006, 12:44 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Aligarh brass gets marching orders after firing deaths </b>
Deepak Kumar Jha / AligarhÂÂ
Aligarh residents are still to come to terms with the violence that took place on Thursday on the occasion of Ram Navami festival. For more than four decades, celebrations have taken place at Mata Ka Mandir in Dahi Wala Gali in Old Aligarh without any conflict though the temple is located in a narrow lane opposite a mosque in the Kotwali Police Station area.
However on Wednesday night, some local leaders of the ruling party in the State <span style='color:red'>Zamir Ahmad and Naseer Ullah Khan took the position that they would not allow the celebrations in the temple, which led to the building of tension in the area</span>.
District circle officer NP Singh reached the spot to diffuse the situation at around 11 PM on the fateful day but had to return with a broken nose under heavy stone pelting.
The police was informed about the situation but while they were sanitising the area to zero in on the culprits, they were pelted with stones, something unheard of in Aligarh.
"We have been offering obeisance in the temple for years but this time perhaps it was planned to create a tension. How else did they accumulate stones and other missiles to target us and the security officials," said resident Manoj Kumar.
<b>The makeshift temple where a 'havan' is performed everyday is under police protection for the first time in 14 years. Next to the temple is a Piao (Water tank) on which is carved, "This is in service of the people - Year 1940". The mosque is just a couple of yards from this Piao</b>.
According to the city administration, <b>what complicated matters was the fact that some members of another community objected to the decorations at the temple for Ram Navami following which matters worsened and police had to resort to firing leading to the death of six people and injuries to several others.</b>
The Uttar Pradesh Government on Friday suspended the city superintendent of police SK Verma and additional district magistrate Satya Bhan while district magistrate RK Singh, SSP Ajay Anand and circle officer (city) MP Singh were transferred. Bhubaneshwar Singh was appointed as the new District Magistrate and Akhil Kumar the new SSP. When asked why senior officials were suspended and transferred, <b>IG Agra Range Rizwan Ahmad said that the situation did not warrant firing and the officials were found to be guilty of doing so. "They could have used minimum force to control the mob,"</b> he added.
The situation in the curfew-bound city continued to be tense while fresh incidents was reported in the Bhujpura locality on Friday morning. The Rapid Action Force has been deployed in numbers in this historic place situated on the GT Road. Curfew continued to be clamped in five police stations areas of the Old city and CRPF, RAF and PAC men along with the civil police were patrolling the streets. Administration was distributing food packets within the affected areas.
DM Bhuvneshwar Singh told the Pioneer that on<b> Friday Namaz were offered in the mohallah mosque</b> after an understanding reached between the district administration and leaders of the community. "The Friday prayers passed off peacefully. It will be brought under control at the earliest. Senior district officials are monitoring the situation and we have circulated our contact numbers to all and sundry in the affected area to provide us with information," said the newly appointed DM.
Earlier in day, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal visited the injured in the medical college but kept away from the violence affected areas. Police official said that Leader of Opposition in the UP Assembly Lalji Tandon was detained at Kanpur while on his way to visit the riot-affected areas.
"Former city BJP MLA KK Navman had been taken into custody on charges of instigating riots. Besides 80 arrests have been made under both preventive and substantive offences. We are combing the area to take stern action against the anti-social elements," said the IG Agra Range.
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Deepak Kumar Jha / AligarhÂÂ
Aligarh residents are still to come to terms with the violence that took place on Thursday on the occasion of Ram Navami festival. For more than four decades, celebrations have taken place at Mata Ka Mandir in Dahi Wala Gali in Old Aligarh without any conflict though the temple is located in a narrow lane opposite a mosque in the Kotwali Police Station area.
However on Wednesday night, some local leaders of the ruling party in the State <span style='color:red'>Zamir Ahmad and Naseer Ullah Khan took the position that they would not allow the celebrations in the temple, which led to the building of tension in the area</span>.
District circle officer NP Singh reached the spot to diffuse the situation at around 11 PM on the fateful day but had to return with a broken nose under heavy stone pelting.
The police was informed about the situation but while they were sanitising the area to zero in on the culprits, they were pelted with stones, something unheard of in Aligarh.
"We have been offering obeisance in the temple for years but this time perhaps it was planned to create a tension. How else did they accumulate stones and other missiles to target us and the security officials," said resident Manoj Kumar.
<b>The makeshift temple where a 'havan' is performed everyday is under police protection for the first time in 14 years. Next to the temple is a Piao (Water tank) on which is carved, "This is in service of the people - Year 1940". The mosque is just a couple of yards from this Piao</b>.
According to the city administration, <b>what complicated matters was the fact that some members of another community objected to the decorations at the temple for Ram Navami following which matters worsened and police had to resort to firing leading to the death of six people and injuries to several others.</b>
The Uttar Pradesh Government on Friday suspended the city superintendent of police SK Verma and additional district magistrate Satya Bhan while district magistrate RK Singh, SSP Ajay Anand and circle officer (city) MP Singh were transferred. Bhubaneshwar Singh was appointed as the new District Magistrate and Akhil Kumar the new SSP. When asked why senior officials were suspended and transferred, <b>IG Agra Range Rizwan Ahmad said that the situation did not warrant firing and the officials were found to be guilty of doing so. "They could have used minimum force to control the mob,"</b> he added.
The situation in the curfew-bound city continued to be tense while fresh incidents was reported in the Bhujpura locality on Friday morning. The Rapid Action Force has been deployed in numbers in this historic place situated on the GT Road. Curfew continued to be clamped in five police stations areas of the Old city and CRPF, RAF and PAC men along with the civil police were patrolling the streets. Administration was distributing food packets within the affected areas.
DM Bhuvneshwar Singh told the Pioneer that on<b> Friday Namaz were offered in the mohallah mosque</b> after an understanding reached between the district administration and leaders of the community. "The Friday prayers passed off peacefully. It will be brought under control at the earliest. Senior district officials are monitoring the situation and we have circulated our contact numbers to all and sundry in the affected area to provide us with information," said the newly appointed DM.
Earlier in day, Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal visited the injured in the medical college but kept away from the violence affected areas. Police official said that Leader of Opposition in the UP Assembly Lalji Tandon was detained at Kanpur while on his way to visit the riot-affected areas.
"Former city BJP MLA KK Navman had been taken into custody on charges of instigating riots. Besides 80 arrests have been made under both preventive and substantive offences. We are combing the area to take stern action against the anti-social elements," said the IG Agra Range.
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