Officials in a town in northern India put a curfew in place and told the police to shoot anyone who does not follow it. This came after fights over the building of a Muslim school and mosque led to at least five deaths and over 150 injuries.
On Thursday, there was violence in Haldwani, Uttarakhand. Because of this, the government shut down internet services and schools in the area. This was confirmed by Chief Radha Raturi.
Police officer A. Psaid that nearly 4,000 police officers rushed to the area and got the situation under control. He said the police were told to shoot protesters who didn’t follow the curfew.
On Thursday, a lot of people tried to stop government officials and police from tearing down the religious school and mosque. A court decided that the buildings were constructed on government land without permission.
As the violence got worse, the police used guns and tear gas to break up the protesters who were throwing petrol bombs and stones at them. They were attacking a police station and setting some vehicles on fire. Anshuman said this.
The head of the state police, Abhinav Kumar, said that five people were killed in the fighting. He didn’t give all the information but he said that there were no new violent incidents on Friday.
Government worker Vandana Singh Chauhan said that more than 150 police officers got hurt and many people had to go to the hospital.
Anshuman did not say if the police shooting caused the protesters to die. He also did not say what religion the victims were.
Haldwani is around 270 kilometres (170 miles) to the northeast of New Delhi.
Muslim groups and rights organizations say that India’s government, which is mainly made up of Hindus, has destroyed their homes and businesses before. Officials say they are only going after illegal buildings, but some people think they are unfairly punishing activists from minority groups. They call it “bulldozer justice. ”
Amnesty International said this week that bulldozers have destroyed homes, businesses, and places where Muslims worship. They said this was often done without warning and as an excuse to take over land illegally.
The Indian government is destroying Muslim homes, and this is being called “bulldozer justice” by some leaders and the media. This is very cruel and terrible. Agnes Callamard, who is the leader of the rights group, said that forcing people out of their homes is very unfair, not allowed by law and unfair because of treating people differently.
Between April and June 2022, researchers from the group found that in five states, authorities used demolitions as punishment after incidents of communal violence or protests. They recorded at least 128 demolitions during this time.
Many people have criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not doing anything about hate speech against Muslims in India, who make up 14% of the population.
Modi’s party says the accusations are not true.