Stone Pelting On Cops At Jaipur's Chomu: What Flared Up The Incident?

Jaipur: Violence erupted in Jaipur's Chomu in the early hours of Friday allegedly over the removal of some stones outside a mosque in the area. Security officials who had gone to remove the stones at the main bus stand area of the town, were met with protests.

The situation escalated when the local crowd started pelting stones at them, injuring some officials. The police had to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd and detained some individuals.

Speaking to ANI, one of the detainees said, “I was not involved in stone pelting...There was debris in my house. I swear I did not pick even one stone...”

What Flared Up The Violence

According to officials, the authorities attempted to clear stones placed outside a mosque and install railings as part of a traffic management and road widening initiative.

The  Deputy Commissioner of Police for the West District in Jaipur, Hanuman Prasad Meena, said that a dispute had persisted over encroachment near a Kalandari Mosque in the area. While one group had voluntarily removed the encroachment, another one tried to install it, this time along with some iron angles.

"There is a Kalandari Mosque here where a dispute over encroachment had been ongoing for quite some time. One party voluntarily removed the encroachment, but some people tried to re-establish it permanently by installing iron angles," Meena said.  

Elaborating on the incident, he said, "We were removing these structures when some people pelted stones at the police. We will take strict action against all those involved. Currently, there is peace in the area."

According to reports, a meeting was held on Thursday evening between the locals and the police, following which it was mutually decided to remove the stones outside the mosque that had been lying there for a long time. Reports indicate that there were also plans to construct an iron angle by the police administration at close proximity to the mosque.

However, after the stones were initially removed and the iron angle was placed, a section of people from the local community started installing an iron railing bordering the mosque. This sparked fresh tensions and the railings were removed by the police.

Initially the situation was calm. However, what started as a heated argument late night on Thursday, soon escalated into violence around 3 am, leading to stone pelting at the police force. As the situation worsened, additional police forces were rushed in from several police stations to contain the situation. 

Giving a brief legal background behind the incident, former Chomu MLA Ramlal Sharma highlighted, “40 years ago, a dispute arose, and the matter was under consideration in court. The court ruled that it was not a religious site and that it was an encroachment on the road.”

“The case is pending in the High Court, but stones had been placed even outside that disputed area,” he added.

Explaining how the situation flared up on Thursday night, Sharma said, “After 4-5 rounds of talks, an agreement was reached, and people said that they would remove the stones themselves. Based on this agreement, people were removing the stones yesterday. They (the police) started barricading the disputed site, and people became angry, questioning how they could carry out work in a place where the court had ordered a status quo. When the administration tried to stop them, they were attacked with bottles, bricks and stones. The police used mild force, but when they didn't comply, the police had to use tear gas. Approximately 50 people have been taken into custody by the police.”

The Situation At Present

The police have detained several individuals associated with the incident and have also suspended internet services in the area as a preventive measure.

"We have detained about half a dozen people for questioning. Internet services have been suspended. Sufficient force has been deployed to maintain peace," Rahul Prakash, Special Police Commissioner, Jaipur said speaking to ANI.

According to officials, currently the situation had been brought under control. Police personnel conducted a flag march across Chomu to ensure law and order in the area.

Senior police officials appealed to the locals to maintain peace in the area. A search is underway to identify those involved in stone-pelting and legal action will be taken against them.

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