Policing curbed communal riots: state official

Effective policing prevented twelve communally sensitive incidents in the state in the past 20 days from turning into riots.

"Most of the cases were not even reported in the media, since we were able to nip the problem in the bud," a senior government official said.

He cited the case of Durgadi in Kalyan (Thane district), where a mosque and temple have co-existed for several years.

According to him, while the temple and mosque are adjacent to each other, the land in front of the temple belongs to the mosque authorities.

However, following a dispute over the ownership of the land, the mosque authorities had blockaded the land by building a compound. This compound was then broken down by the Sainiks and they insisted on repairing it in a way that access to the temple was not blocked.

"The Sainiks had been agitating for the restoration of the temple compound-cum-hall premise, especially a portion of the roof, and threatened to effect the repairs themselves on September 1. The issue threatened to snowball into a communal riot," the official said.

"On September 1, when the mob of 150 to 200 Shiv Sainiks converged upon the site, they were surprised that the compound wall and the roof portion had already been repaired, not by local civic authorities but the police personnel who worked all through the night. The net result was that the agitation had the wind taken out of its sail and things returned to normal," he said.

On September 13, a similarly communal situation arose in Akola, where a mob objected to the throwing of 'gulal' by a procession on the 'Akbar dargah' located below a rail overbridge. A 100-man mob threatened to attack the nearby Hindu locality.

"A mild lathi charge by the police force prevented the mob from proceeding and the situation was brought under control," the official said.

Similarly, bomb explosions were reported in the Adarsh colony mosque in Poorna (Parbhani) and the Quadir mosque in Sadar Bazar (Jalna) on August 27.

On September 1, a cemetery renovation work in Hingoli sparked off protests by nearby "Bhavani" temple authorities who felt the cemetery compound was erected too close to the temple.

Then on September 6, cow dung was flung by unknown persons on a site reserved for the installation of a 'Ganesh' idol.

On September 9, Vishwa Hindu Parishad threatened to demolish the tomb of Mogul ruler Afzal Khan in Satara. The police had to resort to lathi charge to prevent VHP activists from attempting to damage the tomb again on September 12.

The same day also witnessed the Pancapeer Dargah in Buldhana alleging that some pages of the holy quran kept under a religious cloth were burnt. "A strong police presence ensured these incidents did not blow up into full fledged communal riots," the official said.

As the October 13 deadline for holding elections to 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra nears, the police personnel anticipate more such incidents.

"But we are equally sure that we will not allow these attempts to succeed in tearing the social fabric of a secular society," the official said.