One Muslim man died and around seventeen were reportedly injured during ‘police firing’ amid blistering communal eruption in the district of Kadamtala, north Tripura.
The conflict reportedly erupted on Sunday during a dispute between members of a club, some random passengers and a driver over Durga Puja chanda (contribution) collection. The minor brawl soon turned into a mammoth communal eruption when the crowd joined in and soon the situation went ‘out of control’.
As per attained information, the man who died in the mishap has been recognised as Shaheen, whose body was found after the police allegedly ‘controlled the situation’ and restored order.
According to the reports, several private properties were damaged and some shops and houses were looted and targeted during the violent skirmish. Many other local residents have also been injured during the lathi-charges, however the accurate number of people affected in the case is not clear till now.
After the clash, heavy security forces from ‘Tripura police’ and ‘Tripura State Rifles’ were deployed on the site, the district administration imposed article 163 of Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and people were not allowed to gather and chatter in order to stop rumours from spreading around.
No official explanation has yet been provided regarding the suspicious circumstances surrounding Shaheen’s death.
Till now around 8 people have been arrested in the case but nobody has disclosed how they are going to deal with the damage that has already taken place.
Responding to the intense situation, Congress MLA Roy Barman said that some club-members were pressurizing Muslim shopkeepers to pay a fat amount for the Durga-Pooja celebration, to which they denied.
Therefore, the argument escalated and then the Chanda-seekers started looting the shops. He also pointed towards a vague ‘conspiracy’ in ‘certain quarters’ that intended to cause eerie communal riots in Gandacherra, Durganagar and Kadamtala.
Some people from administration marked out ‘an atmosphere of fear’ and ‘certain conspiracy’ theories that wanted to destroy the social-harmony between different religious communities and amid tribal and non-tribal population.
On the other hand, CPI(M) leaders have held two cabinet ministers responsible for instigating common masses for violence against minorities via unfair use of social media.
