Curfew continues in Bareilly, board students exempt

LUCKNOW - Curfew continued in several parts of Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district Wednesday, a day after a communal clash over a procession, but exemptions were made for students appearing for their board exams.

District Magistrate Ashish Goel directed officials to ensure that students appearing for examinations did not face any difficulty in moving around. He said their examination admit cards would serve as curfew passes.

“Police and other officials have been directed not to impose any kind of restriction on movement of students going to appear in the board exams. During curfew, students’ admit cards would serve as passes for them,” Goel told reporters in Bareilly town, about 250 km from here.

Similarly, the decision to close all colleges and schools in Bareilly will not cover institutions that are examination centres.

“We have exempted schools and colleges where students will appear for their Class 10 or 12 board exams,” Goel added.

Trouble began Tuesday afternoon when the Barawafat procession was on. An exchange of hot words snowballed into a violent clash and some shops were burnt. Police then imposed curfew in the four police station areas of Kotwali, Kila, Premnagar and Baradari.

Said 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.”

District authorities have intensified security deployment, particularly in sensitive areas. Orders have also been issued for making necessary preventive arrests.