Jodhpur: Curfew in ten areas following clashes, stone-pelting on Eid; internet suspended

Local authorities on Tuesday imposed a curfew till 4 pm in ten areas of Rajasthan’s Jodhpur after communal tensions broke out in Jalori Gate area of the city, earlier in the day.

The subsequent stone pelting left at least four policemen injured.

Udai Mandir, Nagori Gate, Khanda Phalsa, Pratap Nagar, Dev Nagar, Soor Sagar and Sardarpura are among the police station limits where the curfew has been imposed.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held a high-level meeting with officials to take stock of the situation in Jodhpur.

Gehlot instructed Minister of State for Home Rajendra Yadav and Jodhpur in-charge minister Dr Subhash Garg, ACS Home Abhay Kumar, ADG Law and Order Hawa Singh Ghumaria to immediately go to Jodhpur via helicopter, ANI reported.

Three held in connection with the clashes

According to ANI, Rajasthan Police have detained three persons in connection with the clashes.

Earlier in the day, police lobbed tear gas shells to control the situation hours before Eid in the hometown of Gehlot, who appealed to the people to maintain peace.

The two sides clashed with each other over installing a religious flag in connection with Eid, police said.

Jodhpur district administration has temporarily suspended internet services in the district on Tuesday as a precautionary measure after clashes on Monday night, ahead of Eid ul-Fitr and the Akshaya Tritiya festivals today.

According to an order issued by Jodhpur Divisional Commissioner Himanshu Gupta, all internet services have been suspended in Jodhpur beginning from 1 am today.

“All 2G/3G/4G/ Data (mobile internet), bulk SMS/MMS/Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter and other social media services through internet service providers (except voice calls, broadband internet, leased lines have been temporarily suspended till further orders in the entire Jodhpur district,” read the order.

As per reports, people of one community started raising slogans after a flag was put up on the statue of freedom fighter Bal Mukund Bissa and a banner related to Eid was strung up on the circle at Jalori.

The demonstrators removed the flag and banner, causing an uproar. The members of the other community got angry and clashes broke out between the two groups.

Stones were pelted from both sides, vehicles were damaged, and the crowd even took down the loudspeaker. The police resorted to lobbing tear gas shells to bring the crowd under control, reported India Today.

“Four policemen were injured in the stone-pelting. The heavy police force was deployed in the area to control the situation,” a source in the police control room said.

Clash broke out between two groups a day before #Eid near Jalori Gate, #Jodhpur. pic.twitter.com/Sktpo72Uqo

— Nikhil Choudhary (@NikhilCh_) May 2, 2022

The chief minister asked the people to uphold brotherhood and called the incident unfortunate.

“While respecting the tradition of love and brotherhood of Jodhpur, Marwar, I make a touching appeal to all the parties to maintain peace and cooperate in restoring law and order,” he said in a tweet.

Gehlot said he has instructed the administration to maintain peace and order.

जोधपुर, मारवाड़ की प्रेम एवं भाईचारे की परंपरा का सम्मान करते हुए मैं सभी पक्षों से मार्मिक अपील करता हूं कि शांति बनाए रखें एवं कानून-व्यवस्था बनाने में सहयोग करें।

— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) May 3, 2022

With inputs from agencies

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