Tension prevails in riot-hit Bangalore
From our correspondent
23 January 2007
BANGALORE — Armed policemen patrolled the communally sensitive areas of Bangalore yesterday after a communal flare-up on Sunday left a 12-year-old boy dead and three others injured in police firing.
Commandos from the elite Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed in Bharathinagar and Shivajinagar areas here. These areas were caught in communal frenzy after a rally, organised as part of Virat Hindu Samavesha on Sunday turned violent, leading to arson, looting and stabbing. Though the situation remained calm yesterday, simmering tension forced the police to remain on their toes. RAF, alongwith the police staged flag marches in the riot-hit areas yesterday to instill a sense of confidence in the people. The authorities were confident of peace returning to the city. Police confirmed the death of a 12-year-old boy in the police firing at Russel Market area. The body of the boy, who had received three bullet wounds, is lying at the mortuary at Bowring Hospital in Bangalore. The identity of the boy is yet to be ascertained as nobody had come to claim the body, police said. Three others, who had received bullet injuries, were recovering at the hospital. “The bullets have been removed and they are recovering” according to doctors at Bowring Hospital. More than hundred people including eight policemen sufferred injuries in the communal violence that erupted in sensitive areas here on Sunday evening when a splinter group of the rally, organised as part of the Virat Hindu Samavesha, turned violent. Several people with fractures and head injuries were undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Bangalore. A constable, whose throat had been slashed with a sharp weapon, was also reported to be recovering at Bowring Hospital. Karnataka’s Home Minister M.P. Prakash visited Bowring Hospital yesterday. The injured were undergoing treatment there. Speaking to reporters, Prakash appealed for calm and warned trouble-makers with exemplary punishment. The night curfew imposed in eight police station limits of Bangalore including the worst-hit areas of Shivajinagar, Bharathinagar and Ulsoor, was relaxed from yesterday morning till 7pm. Police officials said night curfew would be re-imposed in the affected areas. Schools and Colleges in the riot-torn areas remained closed yesterday. Prohibitory orders banning the assembly of four or more persons was in force. Movement of traffic even on the arterial roads of the area had been reduced. ‘Never saw such violence’ IANS adds: Sangmesh, a steward at the Eden Park restaurant, said: “There is a lot of fear among people and no one wants to risk their life as there has been a lot of violence in the city since Friday. “I have not seen such violence in the last six-seven years and I have asked my kids to not to venture out of home till Wednesday. Who knows what is going to happen this afternoon,” Sangmesh told IANS. He added that there was at least a 40 percent drop in their business on Sunday. Said Abdul, a newspaper vendor on Infantry Road: “This kind of violence has never been witnessed in the last 10 years. Some violence and a curfew was seen here when Kannada actor Raj Kumar was kidnapped by forest brigand Veerappan a few years back.
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