Communal clashes in Hazaribagh over installation of flags on Mahashivratri, several injured

Hazaribag: Several people were injured after two groups clashed over installation of flags and a loudspeaker during Maha Shivratri in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district on Wednesday, police said.

It all started when one group objected to the installation of religious flags and a loudspeaker in front of a school in Dumraon village within Ichak police station limits by members of another.

The war if words escalated into violence, with both sides pelting bricks at each other. A number of two-wheelers were also set on fire, police said.

Senior police officers, along with adequate security personnel, went to the spot and used force to disperse the groups.

The situation is tense but under control, police said.

"Law and order is under control. We appeal to people to celebrate Maha Shivratri peacefully," a police official said.

Reacting to the incident, minister of state for defence and Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth blamed Bangladeshi infiltrators for the violence and urged Chief Minister Hemant Soren to take stringent measures to drive them out.

"Whether it is Holi, Saraswati Puja, Ramnavmi or Maha Shivratri, why do such incidents recur only in Jharkhand? It is because infiltrators from Bangladesh are hell-bent on destroying communal harmony and law and order here and changing the state's demography," he alleged.

"Such incidents rarely occur in states ruled by BJP-NDA whether Delhi, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, or Uttar Pradesh, as infiltrators are identified and driven out there," he added.

Demanding strict action against the perpetrators, Seth said, "I urged the CM to strengthen law and order here. The state government should identify the Bangladeshi infiltrators and drive them out."