Uttar Pradesh is awash in khaki. More than 170,000 personnel of the Uttar Pradesh police, riot police and paramilitary forces will be on the streets and on high alert to prevent any communal violence in the state, ahead of the crucial verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title case on September 24.
UP Police Chief Karamvir Singh has asked citizens not to heed rumours and to be vigilant of unclaimed objects. Suspicious items or people should be reported to the local police immediately, he said.
Taking preventive action to maintain law & order, the state police have also set up more than 100 temporary detention centres in schools and colleges in all districts of the state, where those arrested will be housed should untoward incidents occur in the state.
| POLICE STATE | |
| Uttar Pradesh Police | 160,000 |
| Additional CRPF | 4,400 |
| CRPF manning shrines | 3,300 |
| Rapid Action Force | 3,300 |
“We are briefing local police units to be more vigilant and identify communally-sensitive places in their areas. We are also speaking with community leaders to help maintain law & order,” said A P Maheshwari, the inspector general, law & order, UP Police.
The Rapid Action Force (RAF), which is tasked with controlling riots and mob violence, has identified six cities as the most communally sensitive in the state. They are: Varanasi, Mathura, Allahabad, Aligarh, Meerut and Moradabad.
“The assessment of these places as communally sensitive is based on past records and the present law & order situation. All six cities have witnessed riots and mob violence in the past. There are three battalions (approximately 3,300 personnel) of RAF already deployed in Aligarh, Meerut and Allahabad to control any violence,” said a senior officer of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Sources also said 40 additional companies (roughly 4,400 personnel) have been rushed by the central government to UP and are being deployed on the directions of the state police.
Senior officers in the Union home ministry further said that more than 3,300 CRPF personnel have been stationed in Mathura, Ayodhya and Varanasi where disputed shrines are located and have been a cause of clashes between communities.
“The men are briefed on the situation every day. We conduct morning meetings so that we are prepared to meet any eventuality,” said a senior RAF officer.
