THREE people were killed in India and dozens more injured after religious clashes sparked by the destruction of a madrassa, officials said Friday (9), the latest in a spate of demolitions targeting Islamic structures.
Hindu nationalist groups have been emboldened in their campaign against Muslim religious structures since prime minister Narendra Modi took office a decade ago.
Authorities in the northern state of Uttarakhand had bulldozed the Islamic school and an adjoining prayer site on Thursday (8), claiming they had been built without permission.
Police said that Muslim protesters threw stones at them in the protests that followed, prompting them to fire tear gas in response.
Three people had been killed in the clashes in Haldwani district, police spokesman Nilesh Anand Bharne told reporters.
District official Vandana Singh told reporters that dozens of others were being treated at "various hospitals".
"Orders have been given to shoot the rioters on sight," she added.
Footage of the clashes posted on social media showed Hindu residents of the district chanting anti-Muslim slogans and throwing stones at the crowd.
Authorities in Haldwani suspended internet services, closed schools, imposed a curfew and banned large gatherings after the violence broke out.
Security forces were also rushed into the area from other parts of the state to contain the unrest, officials said.
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the government would punish anyone found to have participated in the unrest.
"Anyone who attempts to disturb the peace will not be spared," he said in a Friday social media post.
Calls for India to enshrine Hindu supremacy in law have rapidly grown louder since Modi took office in 2014, making the country's roughly 210-million-strong Muslim minority increasingly anxious about their future.
Thursday's violence comes at an especially sensitive time, with nationalist activists stepping up a long campaign to replace several prominent mosques with Hindu temples.
Last month Modi inaugurated a grand new temple in the northern city of Ayodhya, built on the site of a centuries-old mosque that was destroyed by Hindu zealots.
That demolition in 1992 sparked sectarian riots that killed 2,000 people nationwide, most of them Muslims.
The clashes also come days after Uttarakhand's legislature passed a polarising common civil code to replace existing religious laws governing marriage, divorce and inheritance.
Muslim groups across India have objected to the new law, saying it is a violation of their religious freedoms.
Authorities in various Indian states governed by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have also been accused by rights groups of selectively targeting Muslim homes, businesses and worship sites for demolition.
Last month a centuries-old mosque was knocked down in the capital New Delhi with city authorities claiming it had been illegally constructed in a forest reserve.
Authorities in India's financial capital Mumbai tore down several makeshift shopfronts of Muslim-owned businesses in the city days after minor religious clashes that broke out on the eve of the Ayodhya temple's inauguration.
(AFP)
A former Hertfordshire officer resigned before his misconduct ruling
‘Former Hertfordshire police officer made racist slurs against Asians'
A FORMER Hertfordshire police officer made racist comments to colleagues on multiple occasions, a misconduct panel has found.
PC Oliver Gobey, who resigned as an officer on the morning of the misconduct hearing, directed racist comments at people of Asian descent on two separate occasions.
In the first incident, he directed a “racially motivated” comment at a police sergeant to suggest they had been recruited after 9/11 because they were Asian.
Gobey was immediately challenged by PC Wallace, an “experienced officer” who had been a tutor constable for twenty years.
In a second incident, Gobey was in a police vehicle in Hitchin town centre with three colleagues. A man of Asian descent and his friends approached the officers and spoke to Wallace. The man said he was from Birmingham and asked for recommendations on places to visit.
After the man had walked away, Gobey said: “Or you have come down here to escape the honour-based violence you have caused.”Gobey was again challenged by Wallace. Gobey denied making the racist comments, but the panel concluded on the balance of probabilities that both incidents had taken place.
The panel’s report said: “They were discriminatory comments and they were his own. They were unprovoked. No one encouraged him.”
The panel also concluded that Gobey “chose to lie” about a business interest. He repeatedly failed to submit a proper application to continue part-time work for a private ambulance service and voluntary work for St John Ambulance, but continued with the latter regardless.
He also told a supervisor his business interest application had been successful, when it had not been.
In a fourth incident, Gobey “deliberately typed in random numbers” when assigned to work in the Resource Management Unit (RMU).
His figures, which were found to be wrong, came after Gobey “gave the impression to his colleagues that the work in RMY was ‘beneath’ him”.
While working there, he was heard “swearing about the work”. He was “short-tempered and ‘snappy’.” The panel’s report said: “The compilation of the figures … were far from being a simple administrative matter.
“It was essential operational information required by senior officers to decide how scarce resources would be deployed in the coming days.”
The panel found all the allegations against Gobey to be proven on the balance of probabilities, and concluded that they amounted to “serious gross misconduct” that would have led to him being sacked without notice if he had not resigned. He has also been added to the College of Policing barred list.
(Local Democracy Reporting Service)