After violence, 200 arrested; Nuh police chief on leave during riots transferred

The police chief in Nuh, where communal clashes broke out on Monday during a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) rally, has been transferred to the state’s Bhiwani district, around 160 km away. IPS officer Narendra Bijarniya who headed the police force between February 2020 and October 2021, served as acting Superintendent of Police since the violence began and has replaced Varun Singla, who was on leave when the clashes broke out.
Bijarniya was rushed from Bhiwani to Nuh at the start of the clashes in Singla’s absence, and permanent orders have now been issued for his appointment as SP amid “intense communal tension” in the area.
A total of 202 people have been arrested so far and 80 taken into preventive detention in connection with the recent communal clashes in Haryana, state Home Minister Anil Vij said on Friday. Vij also said 102 FIRs have been registered in connection with the clashes so far, half of which are in Nuh alone and the rest in other districts, including Gurugram, Faridabad and Palwal. “I want to assure that anyone involved won’t be spared,” he told reporters in Ambala, adding investigations are ongoing.
Vij further said that those who have been detained are being questioned as per the law and further action is being taken accordingly. Referring to the Friday namaz, the minister said he has spoken to the deputy commissioners of Nuh, Faridabad and Gurugram, and instructions have been given issued for adequate security arrangements. Apart from this, adequate security arrangements for the rest of Haryana wherever Friday namaz is held had also been made.
The Home Minister said though all arrangements for security are in place, some clerics have given a call to offer namaz at home. On a cybercrime police station being targeted in Nuh, Vij said, “We have taken the incident very seriously.” Investigations are underway to find out who attacked the police station and what records they wanted to destroy.
Sporadic incidents of arson and violence have been reported from across Haryana since Monday when violence broke out in the adjoining Nuh district. Three motorcycles were set on fire on Thursday night in Gurugram’s Pataudi area, police said. The motorcycles were parked outside Rashid Auto Works near Chungi no. 4 while a mechanic was sleeping inside the shop. Firefighters doused the flames and rescued the mechanic, police said. Similarly, some unidentified people allegedly vandalised a shop in Haryana’s Panipat which was located near the house of a man killed in the Nuh communal clashes, police said on Friday. The miscreants targeted the shop selling chicken on Thursday evening and also damaged two vehicles parked nearby. The shop was located close to the house of one of the civilians who died in the Nuh incident. Police have been deployed in the area, an official said. Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when the VHP procession was attacked by mobs on Monday. In response to a question, Vij said a committee has been formed for monitoring and scanning of social media. He appealed to people to maintain peace and not to share provocative posts on social media.