Bareilly Peaceful after Clashes

Lucknow, Jan 16 (IANS) Seventeen people were arrested and cases slapped against 400 people Friday for their alleged involvement in communal clashes in Bareilly earlier this week, police said.

"The situation is under control and we are taking all care to ensure that peace and the rule of law prevail in the violence-hit areas," a home department official told IANS.

Clashes erupted in Fatehganj area of the city Wednesday after an animal carcass was found next to a religious place.

While police and district officials acted promptly and defused the situation, violence broke out Thursday in which over a dozen people were injured.

Irate crowds pelted stones at the police and personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) after which the police used mild force.

The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trained its guns on Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Bareilly Dharamveer Yadav accusing him of victimizing workers and supporters of the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

State BJP president Laxmikant Bajpayi said the district police chief was working in a biased manner and victimizing the party workers.

He further pointed out that it was the same SSP who had led a brutal cane charge on the BJP activists in Kaanth area of Moradabad last year. He was transferred later by the state government owing to the pressure exerted by the BJP.

The SSP should realize that neither he nor the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state were going to stay forever in power, and should instead focus on rightful conduct, Bajpayi said.

The BJP has also petitioned the national and state human rights commissions seeking action against the Bareilly district police chief.