Curfew clamped in Bareilly following communal clash

LUCKNOW - A minor communal clash followed by sporadic arson late Tuesday afternoon led the administration to clamp curfew in several parts of Bareilly city, officials said.

Timely action by District Magistrate Ashish Goel was stated to have saved the situation from taking an ugly turn.

Trouble sparked off over the passage of a Barawafat procession. What started with exchange of hot words between members of rival communities, almost instantly snowballed into a violent clash as members of a particular community went on an arson spree, burning down a few shops.

However, according to state Home Secretary Mahesh Gupta: “Local officials promptly got into action and rushed a heavy contingent of armed policemen to prevent the situation from turning serious.”

He said: “Curfew was clamped in some of the densely populated areas under four police stations and orders have been issued for immediate arrest of mischief mongers.”

Goel described the situation as “well under control”.

He told IANS over telephone: “We have intensified all security deployments and extensive patrolling was ordered in the entire city, where necessary instructions have also been given for making necessary preventive arrests.”