Uttarakhand’s Haldwani Violence Following Madrasa Demolition: Shoot-at-Sight Order Issued, Curfew in Place

Haldwani Violence: Following the unlawful construction of a madrasa and an underground mosque-like building on government land in Banbhulpura, on Thursday evening, communal tensions erupted in Haldwani, Nainital district.

About sixty people were admitted to hospitals in the aftermath, most of them were police officers and municipal employees involved in the demolition work. Stones were thrown at the police and municipal corporation in Banbhoopura by the locals, who were destroying mosques and prayer sites that had been built illegally in the Mallik garden. More than twenty police officers were hurt in this altercation, including the Ramnagar SHO.

Witnesses stated that rioters set fire to multiple vehicles, including police jeeps and tractors, and damaged the municipal corporation’s JCB. The Banbhoopura police station was set on fire as a result of the situation getting out of control despite the police’s defensive stone-pelting and the use of tear gas.

Two PAC companies from Rudrapur were sent to Haldwani in the meantime, with orders to shoot any rioters they saw in areas affected by curfews.

Earlier in the Thursday afternoon, the municipal corporation had started the process of demolishing the madrasa and mosque located in ‘Malik Bagh’ in the Indira Nagar neighbourhood of Banbhoopura. Three police buses that had been reserved as well as police forces from other stations had gathered outside the police station. A highly escorted municipal corporation team arrived in the evening to carry out the demolition.

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The administrative action was fiercely opposed by the locals, who surrounded police and municipal employees in protest. The police used minimal force in an attempt to break up the throng, which resulted in stone-throwing from all directions and temporarily stopped operations. Roadblocks and vehicle fires resulted from the use of tear gas canisters, which did not stop the unrest, making the situation worse.

Prominent figures, such as SSP Prahlad Narayan Meena and Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, discussed the gravity of the assaults on law enforcement and administrative personnel, as well as the consequent disturbances in the region. The Chief Minister reviewed the situation and made an appeal for calm on Thursday night, accompanied by Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar, and other authorities. The Chief Minister emphasised the need for tough measures against those who incite violence.

The state government has given permission for law enforcement to use deadly force against troublemakers, including shooting rioters on sight.

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