Jabalpur, February 20 Tension gripped the town of Sihora in Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh, as members of two communities clashed, engaged in stone-pelting, and damaged shops and vehicles, forcing the police to fire several teargas shells to bring the situation under control, a senior official said on Friday.
The incident occurred in the Azad Chowk area of the town on Thursday night, after which a heavy police force was deployed there, he said.
Some videos of the clash also went viral on social media.
Eyewitnesses said that a temple dedicated to Goddess Durga and a mosque are located close to each other in the Azad Chowk area. When 'aarti' was being performed at the temple, members of both communities clashed over the damaged safety grill of the temple.
The altercation soon escalated into a violent confrontation. Both sides began pelting each other with stones. They also vandalized shops and vehicles parked on the road, they said.
The police initially used mild force, but when there were no signs of the clash stopping, they fired teargas shells to bring the situation under control, the official said.
Senior police officials as well as those from the administration later visited the spot to assess the situation, he said.
District Collector Raghavendra Singh said that the situation is now completely under control.
Superintendent of Police Sampat Upadhyay said, "Members of two communities clashed and engaged in vandalism. In order to bring the situation under control, the police had to fire eight to ten teargas shells."
Meanwhile, talking to reporters in Bhopal on Friday, Sports and Youth Welfare and Cooperatives Minister Vishwas Sarang said that Madhya Pradesh is a peaceful state and no individual or group has the right to take the law into their own hands.
A viral video shows stones being hurled from atop a mosque. An investigation is underway, and action is being taken against the culprits, he said.
"No one has the right to take the law into their own hands in this manner. How the stones were collected at the mosque is a matter of investigation," Sarang said.
